Consumerism In The Postmodern Consumer

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The postmodern consumer is hence both empowered and competent to resist any untoward and uncalled for individual or societal implications. Consumers have access to multiple communication channel and modalities blogs and Youtubes videos and the like are mediums by way of which consumers can co-create for marketers and manufacturers and at the same time provide platform for anti-brand communication to take place far from being a paive recipient of stimuli the urban consumer, is capable of mitigating human suffering, capable of voicing their disdain for violation of human rights as in the case of Nike and thereby subverting the hegemonic met narrative of consumption and consumerism. The urban value conscious consumer also has the means and the…show more content…
Hence, the BOP segment is also treated as the 'sovereign consumers' free to choose as per scholars like C.K. Prahlad. Even the rural and subalttern consumers have a huge propensity to consume owing to the influence of TV images (Varman, ). The rural consumers too aspire to emulate the urban lifestyle and there is a greater demand for objects of consumption (Belk, 1988). As India gets engulfed in the consumption culture the poor are expected and even feel pressured to respond to the demands of the marketplace (Hamilton, ). As (Ger, 1997) suggests consumption manifests a strong ideological hold on consumers' in the belief that the meaning of life can be found in consumption. The poor too are no exception to this ideological position. However, development of market segmentation techniques now has led marketing professionals to focus on the more profitable and high income segment to the exclusion of the poor in many sectors citing example of the of subaltern consumers, Verman & Belk acknowledge that these groups are infact at the margins of consumption markets with limited participation in exchange relationships. However, consumer culture as is evident amongst the urban elite is also becoming a reality for a majority of rural…show more content…
Neilson and economic times surveys. Rural India accounts for 1/3rd of the total FMCG market and has grown at a faster pace of 12.2% than the urban market (8%) in the year 2013 (Hindu Business Line, Business Std & Arnaca analysis). As per an AC Neilson White paper in 2011 "the incr3easing rural footprint" will be critical for volumes in the long run" Media exposure amongst the rural poor and small town inhabitants has fuelled a desire to make lifestyle choices closely resembling that of urban consumers. The spending capacity may not be high, however, the penchant to improve their living standard is a constant motivator for this segment of consumers to adopt comparable consumption patterns. The demand for consumer products both consumable and durables, is witnessing a demand surge. In the rural areas retailers manufactures and marketers face a challenging task of reaching out to the rurral poor with limited purchasing capacity and make value for money offers of products, they had not even heard of; just about a decade ago and which are of limited utility to their ways of living. The MNC's, retailers and marketers alike are presented with a task of exhibiting behaviour, that will enable the poor to make responsible choices. A pertinent concern in the rural market is whether the CRM concept remains relevant in the context of the rural poor as well. Does CRM remain a
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