It is the idea that increasing the consumption of goods and services is always a desirable goal and that a persons’ well-being and happiness depends fundamentally on obtaining more consumer goods and material possession.

Example –

  1. Buying a car for each of your kids when they can share.
  2. Going to private hospitals, when state hospitals can do.
  3. Buying a bigger house when you can live in your smaller house.


Positive Impact of Consumerism:

  1. Increases economic output and creates job.
  2. Leads to increase in wealth for companies.
  3. Promotes competition between companies.
  4. Allows for a large variety of goods and services.
  5. Improves the quality of life for people.


Negative impact of consumerism:

  1. Causes more pollution.
  2. A major contributor to resource depletion.
  3. Leads companies to develop low quality products.
  4. Promotes poor labour standard.
  5. Does not necessarily leads to an increased happiness beyond a certain point.


Needs and reasons for Consumerism:

  1. In vast country like India, it is very difficult to organise the consumer.
  2. Majority of our population is illiterate, ignorant, uneducated, and ill-informed.
  3. Poverty, lack of social awareness, accepting life as it is and passive outlook are some of the factors which make consumer movement difficult to increase.
  4. The ads bombarded on the consumers make them confused and hence again a need for consumer guidance.