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Issue Description
Figures released in 2006 show that spending by British consumers has hit a record high of £1 trillion. With 65% of households now owning a home computer, and 79% a mobile phone, are we as a society becoming ever more materialistic? What are our rights as consumers? Is it important to buy ethical services and produce, even at a higher price? These are just some of the questions raised in Customers and Consumerism.
The information comes from a wide range of sources and includes government reports and statistics, newspaper reports, features, magazine articles and surveys, literature from lobby groups and charitable organisations.
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Key Facts
- Spending has hit a record high as British consumers parted with as much as £1 trillion (a million million) in 2005 alone. On average this works out at around £37,000 for every household across Britain today. (page 3)
- Advertising today is a major industry. Each year between 1-2% of all income in the UK is spent on advertising. Without advertising, there would be no radio or television, very few magazines and newspapers and no ‘free’ newspapers. (page 7)
- The impact of the consumer society is now so deep that seven out of 10 three-year-olds recognise the McDonald’s logo but only half know their own surname, said a left-of-centre think-tank. (page 11)
- Although Germany is the largest economy in Europe, Internet retail sales in the UK (9.79bn Euros) stood some 80 million Euros ahead of Germany (9.71bn Euros) last year, making the UK Europe’s biggest online retail market. (page 15)
- Britain’s personal debt is increasing by £1 million every four minutes. (page 24)
- Fair trade food and drink sales increased by 52 per cent in 2005. (page 31)
- Two in five consumers (40%) now ‘buy free-range products whenever they can’ (up from 33% in 2002). (page 34)
- Supermarket competitiveness can harm local food economies that sustain our market towns and villages. Their monopoly position in the market allows them to dictate how much they pay farmers, while at the same time seeking out cheaper food from abroad (page 38)
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Table of Contents
Chapter One: Consumer Trends
Consumers, Consumer spending, Consumer durables, Affluenza, Companies branded ‘out of touch’ by consumers, Advertising, Advertising and children, Childhood ‘dying in spend, spend Britain’, Shopping addiction, Men are shopaholics too, say psychologists, UK is Europe’s number one online retail market, Women and online shopping.
Chapter Two: Rights and Risks
Consumer rights, Your rights, Changes to consumer rights, Using credit wisely, Rise in problem debt, Facts and figures, Debt advice, Scambuster, Scammers create web of deceit.
Chapter Three: Ethical Consumerism
Absolutely ethical, darling!, Ethical consumerism, What assures consumers?, Ethical food, Fair trade, The Fairtrade revolution, Supermarkets vs local shops.
Key Facts
Glossary
Additional Resources
Index
Acknowledgements
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The Study Guide for: Customers and Consumerism - Volume 134
Each book in the Issues series has a study guide. These four-page guides provide a variety of discussion points and other activities to suit a wide range of ability levels and interests.
Publisher: Independence Educational Publishers
Price: £1.95
ISBN: 978 1 86168 412 7