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Examines consumerist developments in progressive Western economies. Studies present literature about consumerism, developing some propositions forming the basis for a theory of consumerism. Goes on to test the propositions, based on empirical data, to form the foundation for a framework to enable marketing to encompass consumerism. Examines in the first part the USA and the consumerist movement there, looking at various public interest groups active in the USA. Addresses the phenomenon in Europe in the second section stating that Sweden is the most consumer‐friendly, followed by the UK, France and Germany. Concludes that the consumer has a right to expect safety, quality, health; information, education and protection; and truth, authenticity and choice.

Consumerism's fundamental nature, reflecting as it did a general dissatisfaction among consumers with the existing relationship between consumer and producer in the marketplace in the well‐off industrialised nations, ensured its rapid growth and internationalisation. Notes that after gaining momentum in the USA, consumerism had spread to most of the developed countries, in particular Sweden, Japan, The Netherlands and the UK. Suggests that the international consumerist movement reached its peak in many countries in the late 1960s and 1970s, and this was when the consumerist movements were united by a single overwhelming objective — ensuring the consumer got a fair deal in the marketplace. Contends that consumerists have approached the problem from two different points — the strategies employed fall into these categories: consumer information and education; and the recognition of basic consumer rights in law. Believes that elements of both attempts try to ensure that the consumer is able to protect himself and are found in all the countries with consumerist movements. Concludes that consumerists' aim has been to ensure that within this framework the interests of consumers are protected and that consumers receive a fair deal.

Based on a decolonial perspective from Latin America, this paper aims to offer a different history of the creation of Brazil’s Consumer Defense Code (CDC), analyzing the process through which Eurocentric influences, especially coming from Consumers International (CI), became present in the development of the code.

A qualitative historical research was developed using marketing amnesia and decolonialism as its theoretical backdrop. Primary and secondary data are used as source of information. Primary data were obtained through interviews with two authors of the CDC. Secondary data were collected from academic articles and books, reports, magazines and consumer organization websites, as well as journalistic articles.

During the drafting of the CDC and after its promulgation, the presence of Eurocentric forces was constant, given the interests of CI and other agents in influencing Brazil’s consumer practices, subordinating them to those of the Global North. This Eurocentric presence was accepted by the Brazilian jurists that drafted the CDC, which led to the incorporation of both laws and bills from Eurocentric countries and the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection into the code.

Such discussions are scarce in marketing, due to the area’s amnestic state regarding the past. While selectively forgetting certain pasts, marketing fails to both acknowledge its tendency to subordinate consumerist actions to those accepted by the Eurocentric world, and to establish analyses that deal with mimetic processes, to minimize asymmetries between companies and consumers, especially in emerging economies, and, even more, dichotomies between the Global North and the Global South.

Points out some deficiencies in consumer attitudes. Confirms that the emergence of consumerism has, generally, been welcomed, not only by customers, journalists and educators, but even by businessmen who, ostensibly, have most to lose from the activities of an organised consumer movement. Demonstrates, herein, that the actual behaviour of consumerists is given as evidence that there are aspects of the consumer movement which are of help to no‐one, least of all consumers. Confirms the concern specifically with consumerists' expressed and implicit attitudes towards the effects of consumer protection measures on private and social costs; the realities of consumer behaviour and the needs of the customer; and the workings of the modern competitive marketing system. Sums up that consumerism leads to decisions being made on behalf of consumers, rather than by consumers, which can only harm consumers and this cannot be disregarded.

Emphasises opportunities for positive responses to consumerist phenomena by marketing managements, despite the growing political nature of European consumerism, and that in this new, complex and dynamic environment the marketing man must learn to operate. States in the last two decades of growth markets, the number of products available to satisfy a particular consumer need has dramatically increased. Posits that, luckily for both consumer and marketer, the normal process of consumer satisfaction tends, in the long run, to shake out unviable or invalid products. Investigates consumers' perceptions of consumerism, discussing both male and female views about information, health and safety, repairs and servicing and product quality. Gives results of a survey from a consumers' hot line installed by a US Attorney General in the autumn of 1971 — there were 3,000 calls of which a random sample of 150 were used — these results are included for reference. Discusses businessmen's perception of consumerism, marketing stands, objectives and policies of consumer organisations, future trends in Europe, and marketing's response by firms who practice the marketing concept. Summarises that the time is at hand to apply, in its true meaning, the marketing concept.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze how, in three different contexts, the National Council for Advertising Self-Regulation narratively uses its past to build an official history concerning its origins that legitimates advertising self-control as a hegemonic narrative.

By using the historical research and the “uses of the past” approach, this study identifies, analyzes and confronts three organizational histories of Conar’s origins (both its official and unofficial versions) in the context of the creation of the Brazilian system of advertising self-regulation.

After a thematic analysis of the documentary sources, the narratives on the National Council for Advertising Self-Regulation’s origins and the self-control process were grouped into three versions: the narrative under the military regime: 1976/1980; the narrative during the process of re-democratization of the country: 1981/1991 and the contemporary narrative: from 2005 onwards. These narratives were confronted and, in consequence, provided, each of them, a different interpretation of the context surrounding the creation and justification for advertising self-control.

The study shows how a consumer defense organization re-historicized its past strategically to gain legitimacy in three different ways through time. It also reveals that organizations strategically use their past to build an intended vision of the future, thus having more agency than the hegemonic literature in management studies usually guarantees. Finally, it exposes the malleability of past narratives through which organizations play a critical role in the ongoing struggle for competing uses of the past. Therefore, the study identifies different organizational stories through time that allow researchers to reflect on several strategic uses of the past by organizations.

Critical accounting research has viewed corporate annual reports as the signed public records of organisations' dominant managerial groups and/or as reflective and constitutive of a wider set of societal values. To date, however, there has been little research on the social context of these reports. This paper seeks to further explore and question the role of corporate annual reports in post‐modernity. Since the end of World War II, a post‐modern, media‐dominated culture has risen in Western countries like Australia. The question of this paper is whether corporate annual reports are instrumental in reflecting and reproducing this consumerist culture. A content analysis of Australian National Industries Limited's annual reports from 1962 – 1991 demonstrates that there is a link in the content and form of these reports and the rise of a consumerist culture in Australia. This paper shows that if everything can be made to sell, so aesthetics can be commodified and be made part of a product (corporate annual reports) whose primary objective is to convince dispersed stakeholder groups that the company and its management are worth investing in.

Looks at three groups thought to be representative of consumer reactions — advertising experts, consumerists and students — and asks which one(s) among these can really anticipate consumers” cognitive and affective reactions towards the advertising content. Investigates the reactions of representatives from these groups to advertisements shown in a controlled situation. Concludes that none of these groups proved to be a good substitute for the consumer.

This paper aims to focus on collaborative consumption, that is, the peer-to-peer (P2P) exchange of goods and services facilitated by online platforms. Anchored in the access paradigm, collaborative consumption (e.g. accommodation rental and ridesharing services) differs from commercial services offered by firms (e.g. business-to-customer [B2C] carsharing). The aim of this study is to examine the nuanced styles of collaborative consumption in relation to market-mediated access practices and socially mediated sharing practices.

Following the general research trend on mobility services, the context of long-distance ridesharing is chosen. Data collection was conducted using participant observation as peer service provider, 11 ethnographic interviews of consumers and a netnographic study of digital artifacts.

Using practice theory, ten ridesharing activities were identified. These activities and the nuances in the procedures, understandings and engagements in the ridesharing practice led to the distinction of three styles of collaborative consumption: communal collaborative consumption, which is when participants seek pro-social relationships in belonging to a community; consumerist collaborative consumption, performed by participants who seek status and convenience in the access lifestyle; and opportunistic collaborative consumption, when participants seek to achieve monetary gain or personal benefits from abusive activities.

By taking a phenomenological approach on collaborative consumption, this study adds to the understanding of the sharing economy as embedded in both a utilitarian/commercial economic system and a non-market/communal social system. The three styles of collaborative consumption propose a framework for future studies differentiating P2P exchanges from other practices (i.e. B2C access-based services and sharing).

Purpose — The chapter seeks to examine the impact of neoliberal language on the library profession in the United Kingdom. Since New Labour's election in 1997 public service restructuring in the United Kingdom took on a more oblique managerialist and consumerist approach. The impact of managerialism in the public library service has focused mainly on modernising and improving services to the individual user, and is based on scenarios where public libraries have to model themselves on the private sector, and where managers have been empowered over professionals.

Design/methodology/approach — The chapter uses a mixed methods approach by combining content and discourse analysis to examine how neoliberal discourses have impacted on public librarianship through examination of government policy documents, and other works on public libraries in the era under study.

Findings — The study highlights neoliberal narratives within public library policy documents in the period, with emphasis on deprofessionalisation and consumerist attitudes related to public choice evident. The discussion reveals how narratives of elitism and decline are used to describe the public library service, which reinforces negative stereotypes of a service in distress.

Research limitations/implications — The study only relates to the period 1997–2010 with an emphasis on the United Kingdom, thus cannot be seen to be representative of all public library services.

Originality/value — The study utilises a mixed method approach to examine narratives within public library policy, and reflects on an important period in public library development, and offers a unique insight into the period.