Challenging the notion of a consumer: time for change
Access Status
Authors
Date
2011Type
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Source Title
ISSN
Collection
Abstract
The passage through Parliament of the Trade Practices Amendment (Australian Consumer Law) Bill (No 2) 2010 highlighted one issue that remains unresolved. Just who is the consumer that is deserving of protection? In seeking to find an answer to this, we look to the past and highlight the etymological basis of the word 'consumer'. We then examine its current legal definition and the problems associated with this. In doing this we illustrate the comparative and interdisciplinary understanding of the consumer. Our thesis is that attempting to find a single universal definition of what it means to be a consumer is unlikely to yield a productive result. Rather our solution is two fold. First, accept for the purposes of the consumer guarantees that all transactions are consumer in nature and, supplementary to this, make an argument for developing a unifying theme of who the consumer is throughout the legislation. By doing this, we argue that the conceptual confusion that currently exists as to when someone is a consumer will be eliminated, and by establishing a unified concept throughout the entire Competition and Consumer Act 2010, the opaqueness that currently disguises who is the consumer will be swept away. To do this provides the person known as the consumer with the special protection that they deserve. To currently confuse and conflate only some business transactions as consumer in origin only devalues the protection that we are seeking to give a particular group of people or a particular set of transactions.
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Banfield, Gregory J. (1999)The research question addressed in this study is "what outerwear fabric types are preferred by consumer segments in each of the major climatic zones in Australia?" objectives are to:1. examine consumer preference for ...
-
Williams, J.; Uysal, Muzaffer (2013)Stay ahead of your customers as their service expectations change!In Current Issues and Development in Hospitality and Tourism Satisfaction, experts from the field explore customer satisfaction strategies, examining both ...
-
Does brand attachment protect consumer–brand relationships after brand misconduct in retail banking?Shimul, Anwar Sadat ; Faroque, A.R.; Cheah, Isaac (2024)Purpose: This research aims to examine the role of consumers' brand trust and attachment on advocacy intention before and after the occurrence of brand misconduct in retail banking. In addition, the influence of brand ...