Consumerism in Marketing
JORIND 9(2) December, 2011. ISSN 1596 – 8308. www.transcampus.org., www.ajol.info/journals/jorind
CONSUMERISM IN NIGERIA Dr. Anthony .A. Ijewere (senior lecturer) Department of Business Administration, University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State and Stephen .O Obeki Abstract With high corn petition in the business world, manufacturers, marketers and service providers have been known to engage in several unethical, exploitative and misleading practices in their attempts to bedt competition, make profit and stay on in business. These bad practices have caused consumers not only their money but also their life in several cases, hence the birth of consumerism which is an attempt by the civil society to protect themselves against the unethical and bad practices of the manufacturers, marketers and service providers. In this research we examined the existence and the level of activity of consumerism in Nigeria using extant literature, and discovered that unlike what entails in the developed world, consumerism in Nigeria is still at its infancy, with the government and the civil society not doing enough to grow it to maturity. However, this study identfied those factors that are responsible for the slow growth and activity of consumerism in Nigeria and proffered solution. Key Words: Consumerism, consumer protection, unethical practices, consumer exploitation, legal redress. Introduction. Industrialization in many countries of the world as made possible by advanced technologies, especially in the manufacturing, communication and transportation sectors, has turned the world into a global village, thus making business to be more than ever before characterized by high competition among manufacturing and marketing organizations in jostling for consumer’s patronage and loyalty. With this high level of competition comes a major problem in the commercial transaction, which according to Agbonifoh, Ogwo, Nnolim and Nkamnebe (2007), “... is how to ensure fairness of both the buyer
CONSUMERISM IN NIGERIA Dr. Anthony .A. Ijewere (senior lecturer) Department of Business Administration, University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State and Stephen .O Obeki Abstract With high corn petition in the business world, manufacturers, marketers and service providers have been known to engage in several unethical, exploitative and misleading practices in their attempts to bedt competition, make profit and stay on in business. These bad practices have caused consumers not only their money but also their life in several cases, hence the birth of consumerism which is an attempt by the civil society to protect themselves against the unethical and bad practices of the manufacturers, marketers and service providers. In this research we examined the existence and the level of activity of consumerism in Nigeria using extant literature, and discovered that unlike what entails in the developed world, consumerism in Nigeria is still at its infancy, with the government and the civil society not doing enough to grow it to maturity. However, this study identfied those factors that are responsible for the slow growth and activity of consumerism in Nigeria and proffered solution. Key Words: Consumerism, consumer protection, unethical practices, consumer exploitation, legal redress. Introduction. Industrialization in many countries of the world as made possible by advanced technologies, especially in the manufacturing, communication and transportation sectors, has turned the world into a global village, thus making business to be more than ever before characterized by high competition among manufacturing and marketing organizations in jostling for consumer’s patronage and loyalty. With this high level of competition comes a major problem in the commercial transaction, which according to Agbonifoh, Ogwo, Nnolim and Nkamnebe (2007), “... is how to ensure fairness of both the buyer
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