The document discusses the history and objectives of consumerism movements globally and in India. It outlines 4 eras in the development of consumerism from the 1900s to the present. The basic rights of consumers outlined by President Kennedy are also mentioned, including the rights to safety, being informed, choice, and being heard. India has a history of consumer protection laws dating back to Kautilya's Arthasasthra, and the Consumer Protection Act of 1986 was a milestone that provided protections against unfair trade practices. However, consumerism in India remains less developed due to issues like short supply of goods and lack of competition.

1. PREPARED BY
PREMUJA M. NAIR
MBA
UCC

2. Consumerism is an organized movement of
citizens and government to strengthen the
rights and power of buyers in relation to the
sellers.
 Consumer movement in the present form
came into being only in the 1930's in the
West and only in the 60's in India.

3. The basic objectives of consumer movement
world wide are as follows :
 Recognition of reasonable consumer requests
 Protection against fraud, misrepresentation,
unsanitary and unjust products
 Management of aspects affecting
consumers
 Promoting consumers interests

4. In India, the basic reasons for the consumer movement are:-
 Shortage of consumer products;
 Inflation of early 1970′s.
 Adulteration and the Black Market.
 Lack of product choices due to lack of
development in technology.
 On availability, purity and prices.

5. Consumerism as an ideology appeared for
the first time in Western Europe.
Consumerism gave rise to certain
conditions:-
• Economic progress.
• Expanding trade
• The rise of small shops
• The rise of individualism.
• Growth of cities.
• The breakdown of traditional status
boundaries.

6. Era 1,1900s. Focused on the need for a banking
system, product purity, postal rates, antitrust regulations
Era 2,1930s–1955 Issues were product safety, bank
failures, labeling, misrepresentation, stock manipulation,
deceptive ads, credit and consumer refunds.
Era 3,1960s –1980 Emphasis on consumer rights.
Era 4, 1980s. Consumerism entered mature
phase due to gains of Era 3. Emphasis on business
deregulation and self-regulation.
since 1990s. Government’s role has been to balance
consumer and business rights, along with slightly stepped-up
enforcement.

7. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy presented a
the following fundamental rights of the
consumer.
 The right to safety
 The right to be informed
 The right to choose
 The right to be heard

8.  India has an ancient history of consumer
protection.
 Kautilya's 'Arthasasthra was the basic law.
 In 1960 an all India seminar on consumer co-
operatives was held
 From the Third Five Year plan onwards,
development of consumer co-operatives
andPDS by the governments to make them
viable

9.  Act is the milestone to the socio-economic
legislation in the country.
 The very first act made in India to know the
unfair trade practices done to the customers.
 Main objective to provide better consumer
protection.
 Speedy and in expensive procedures

10.  As under section -6 of The Consumer Protection
Act,1986 the customer has the following rights:
1) Right to Basic Needs;
2) Right to Safety;
3) Right to Choice;
4) Right to Information;
5) Right to Consumer Education;
6) Right to Redressed;
7) Right to Healthy Environment

11. Consumers have the right to be
protected against products and
services that are hazardous to health
and life

12.  Deontological – irrespective of the costs, if
life is endangered, those costs should be
incurred
 Teleological – by incurring additional costs
lower income consumers get priced out of the
market. Is that desirable?

13. The consumer has the right to be
protected against
• Fraudulent
• Deceitful or grossly misleading
Information,
• Advertising,
• Labeling, or other practices,

14. Consumers have the right to assured
access, to a variety of products and
services at competitive prices.
• Color
• Brand
• Quantity
• Rates

15. Consumers have the right to be
assured that consumer interests will
receive full and sympathetic
consideration in the formulation of
Government policy and fair and
expeditious treatment in its
administrative tribunals

16.  Environmental issues
 Pollution issues

17.  Short supply of many goods and services.
 Lack of effective or workable competition.
 Many products in advanced countries are
still new to a very large segment of the Indian
consumers
 Consumerism in India is not well organized
and developed.
 Laws to safeguard the interests of consumers
are not effectively implemented.

18.  CERC (Consumer Education and Research Centre), Ahmedabad
 FEDCOT (Federation of Consumer Organisations in Tamil Nadu)
 Consumer Guidance Society of India, Mumbai
 CUTS (Consumer Unity of Trust Society), Jaipur
 CONCERT (Centre for Consumer Education Research, Teaching,
Training and Testing), Chennai
 Bureau of Indian Standards, Chennai