Is anybody else here bothered by the use of the word consumer?

Yes, absolutely!!!!! I thought maybe I was the only one to be thoroughly bothered by this. Particularly when the word consumer is substituted for the word citizen. It makes me want to strangle someone.

In a capitalist society like ours, consumers are the most important group in town.

Well. we do kind of purchase many things on impulse in America. We see something and go “OH! How pretty, I’ll take it!” So, although it seems like a cold, slightly harsh word, it screams the truth about Americans today who do mindlessly consume products and services. Key example: Infomercials, Billy Mays; nuff said.

well, we do consume an awful lot of crap every day.

but I can see where you don’t like the idea of being generalized into nothing more than a money bag. but really it’s the best and easiest term to use… when a company that sells soda is talking about to buy their products when they sell on a multi national level saying “Well, our over all sales have increased mainly due to all the teachers fire fighters gas station attendants unwed mothers jabberwalkies paris hiltons us citizens martians canadians limeys scotts and Orientals” doesn’t seem to be very effective.

I am a consumer whore

YAY! CAPITALISM!

Well, a few years ago, my wife’s DD people were known as clients, then consumers, and now they are called individuals. Consumer is general doesn’t bother me, but then, we used to have a cement company known as Consumer’s Cement and Gravel around here for years. The people who owned it were NOT named consumer, their last name was Ellis.

It’s sort of like the word Bulldozer. The origin of that word means a person that is a bully and a thug, but no one uses it in that context anymore, so who really cares?

The only people that do not consume resources are dead people. They are the only ones actually giving something back.

sure, but i wouldn’t say that it isn’t accurate for the most part, however unfortunate that is.

It does bother me. I used to work at Easter Seals and they (management and such) would refer to the individuals we worked with as consumers, not clients or participants, but consumers. It seemed really impersonal to me. Especially for that population. I still don’t get it.

I am bothered by the word.

That’s one of the reasons why I don’t shop the day after Thanksgiving.

I’d rather stay home and eat leftovers while watching Better Off Dead.

I’ll bite.

Well actually, I have been called a lot worse in my lifetime.

But no, it really doesn’t bother me, I am a consumer and I rather enjoy being one. It means I’m not broke yet!

Nope. I think it’s appropriate. American culture in based on consumerism. What would we do if we didn’t buy shit and spend money?

It’s just a word they use instead of user or buyer of a product. Calling someone a “user” can have some negative connotations if not used in the right context.

It is slightly confusing as consuming means eating. Consuming information and digesting information are very similarly used. Rumination (again chewing/eating) and thinking about/thinking things over.

I digress (and regress). I do equate consumerism as being somewhat mindless (Macroeconomics, ugh). Companies think that if they make a cheaper product of similar quality, we will automatically choose the cheaper one to buy: but if found out that the company uses forced child labor (slaves) or fails to pay a living wage, then customers may choose a product from a company that has better business ethics. Capitalism be damned!