Consumer Republic by Bruce Philp

Recently I read Consumer Republic by Bruce Philp for the Retail Design course at school. The book selection was decided on the random draw basis, so I think that this was a lucky draw. I really enjoyed reading Consumer Republic because of the abundance of insightful information about marketing and branding, good structure, well developed and communicated topic, interesting examples and conversational tone of author's writing.

Memorable quotes:


"If one of us starves, we both starve"

"our definition of "needs" is fluid and contextual"

"what motivates the way we meet our needs evolves inevitably form being a matter of survival to something more to do with self-expression"
 

Insightful snippets of info about brands: 

People have a "strange combination of resentment and high expectations" about corporations

"What can we get away with" - attitude of some corporations toward their cusomers

The buying public "misperceives its power over corporations"

Consumerism can be an inclusive social force that can empower the consumers to influence the future and promote sustainability


Brands is the common ground because they "give ordinary people power over the behavior of industry"

Brands is a very big stick that is almost entirely in our hands

Consumers are not victims of marketing

Marketers' work is premised on the notion that the existence of demand is a constant. It is always there, their job is to recognize it and connect it with the supply end of the equation

People buy only what they need. However, the real needs of citizens of the developed world are getting harder to identify.


Opportunistic marketers: "relieve us of our money by meeting our "needs" and use urgency as their default too. They prescribe consumption as a "competitive sport in which whoever gets the most for the least wins". (this is not a path to self actualization)


Fundamental problem of the North American consumerism is that "too many people being sold too much stuff".

"Brands make corporations accountable and give us power"

"Now, as never before, marketers can be influenced to do what we want them to do, as a condition remaining in business"


Expressions of interest:

Neither of us can walk away from the game

"Let us cultivate our garden" - Voltaire

Why the book was written:

The economic turmoil of 2008 that revealed an 'ugly face' of capitalism. People accumulated enormous debts that they were not able to honor. Consumerism along with cynical Wall Street types were blamed for the recession. Buying cheap products of poor quality, throwing them out to only replace them with equally poor quality goods perpetuated the vicious cycle that eventually led to a collapse of the system.

The recession raised the questions about the morality of consumerism, i.e. how much is enough; about social meaning of material things, or whether the things we buy should have any social meaning at all; about personal accountability. 

As book suggests, the future of consumerism is uncertain due to the events of 2008.