Enlightened Consumption

The United States is a nation of almost 325 million consumers living on a planet with nearly 8 billion others. Americans start the day climbing off the mattress, covered with sheets, home or apartment, complete with lumber, appliances, carpet, plumbing, heat and air-conditioning, concrete, and landscaping items. Our alarm clock jolts us awake as we head toward the bathroom to use the facilities, including brushing our teeth, filling our cup and rinsing our mouth with clean water, and then heading for the kitchen. We open the refrigerator and pull out the orange juice and milk; grab a spoon, bowl, and glass out of the cabinet; open the cupboard and find our favorite cereal; turn on the coffee maker; sit down at the table; and click on our smartphone to see what happened while we were asleep. After breakfast, we head back to the bathroom to shower with our soap, shampoo, and razor. We dry off and slip into our outfit for the day, grabbing our backpack, keys, phone, and jacket; climb into our car; check the gas gauge; hit the garage-door opener; and back out of the drive to enter the world chock-full of millions of other items, all working in concert, which allows us to begin our work or studies. Little thought is given to all the products we have consumed to get us started that morning, let alone get us through our day, month, year, and lifetime. We have entrenched hundreds of thousands of items into our everyday world. The only true method to determine the role products play in our lives is to have those items taken away. It is not until our car doesn’t start, we run out of gas, or our “no-service” message pops up on our phone that we realize how dependent we are on all the products and services that make our lives function. Enlightened Consumption is based on the premise that there are primarily two forces making all this happen. The first force is the providers of all these products and services. The second force is consumers, realizing that if it were not for us there would be no need for these items. Although dependent on each other, oftentimes industry (providers) and consumers are at odds, which creates a vicious circle of trying to balance the items consumed with the resources needed to provide these products. Consumers consume for their own consumption, while industry consumes for the consumer’s consumption! This is NOT a text about Consumerism. Consumerism, by its very nature, implies that it is all about the consumer. Enlightened Consumption is about the consumer, but the perspective is from everyone involved with the consumption process, that is, not only the consumer, but the suppliers (industry) who also consume for the benefit of the ultimate user. Their goal is to consume on behalf of the consumer’s consumption. Google “Consumerism,” and you will get 11.5 million links. Google “Enlightened Consumption” and you get 1,500 hits, and only ONE that accurately describes the topic. Ironically, that site references this class. Industry is often viewed as a nonhuman, money-hungry, resource-depleting entity that has only self-serving goals. On the other hand, consumers are often viewed as a tree-hugging, environmentalist, not-in-my-backyard, self-serving group that wants and needs these products and services, but the way we want them provided. Enlightened Consumption is the study of how industry and the consumer can work in concert so all benefit. Industry will produce the products and services we want and need, and consumers will benefit by having access to those items. This text looks at how organizations and consumers can work together to join forces to ensure that we as consumers always have the products we desire, while organizations will always have the incentive to continue to produce these items. Because 100 percent of an organization’s revenue comes from the consumer, the goal is for the consumer to recognize that they are the ultimate decision makers.