Companies spend millions each year on advertising online, in magazines, and on billboards. These adverts can encourage people to buy goods that they do not really need. What are the positive and negative effects of consumerism.

Many corporate spend a colossal amount on the promotion of their products through various medium though it influences the customer to buy them without any actual need.

However

,

consumerism

protects the interest of the people but at the same time has some detrimental effects on manufacturers. In recent days numerous customers are getting benefited due to

consumerism

.

This

is because of the awareness programs conducted to educate the consumers about the various malpractices done in the market.

As a result

, they safeguard themselves from exploitation from greedy merchants.

For example

, earlier people used to pay higher than the MRP (maximum retail price) but now they knew that MRP is the maximum price which could be charged for a product so they refrain from paying anything over and above that.

Similarly

, after-sale services of the products have been drastically improved as any dissatisfied customer can log a complaint in the consumer court if service has not been rendered as per the agreed terms and conditions are written in the warranty card.

Thus

,

consumerism

is overwhelmingly beneficial for the community.

However

, it has some drawbacks which cannot be ignored.

First

and foremost is that the businessmen face challenges due to reduced profits as they cannot increase the cost even if the prices of raw materials increase substantially. To illustrate, pump manufacturers had a great hit in their margins when they were forced to sell their products in the prevailing rates in spite of the huge increase in the price of steel in the country.

Besides

, some customers misuse the law made to protect them and put false allegation on the producers so that they get a complete replacement of the product even though the mistake is on their side.

Therefore

, had there not been

consumerism

, many manufacturers would not have suffered. To conclude, a large sum of funds are spent on advertisement by way of internet, print media and signboard.

This

often affects the decision making of buyers at the time of the purchase.

Although

consumerism

helps and supports consumers in many ways, it has a few adverse effects on the suppliers of the products and services.