Editorial: Stop saying “vulnerable consumers/customers”!

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this editorial is to call out the practice of using identity-first language and labelling consumers and customers, describing them as “vulnerable” and offers practical strategies for person-first language of consumers/customers experiencing vulnerability.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use Australian Indigenous and Indigenous women’s standpoint theory to reflect on their own use of terminology in the field of consumer/customer vulnerability and use their personal experiences to offer a series of practical strategies.

Findings

The authors propose six motivations for the use of person-first language in the field of consumer/customer vulnerability: easy to use, an English language convention, common practice, easy to measure, unintentional ignorance and an “us vs them” mindset.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to call out the practice of using identity-first language in the consumer/customer vulnerability field and offer practical strategies to enable person-first language.

Citation

Russell-Bennett, R., Bedggood, R. and Raciti, M.M. (2024), "Editorial: Stop saying “vulnerable consumers/customers”!", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 38 No. 5, pp. 509-521. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-04-2024-0190