Consumer activism…

What’s this? Has yours truly become a pinko? Nah.. But Dutch newspaper ‘De Pers’ featured an interesting article about the success of consumer activism.

Even though annoying and persistent as say Rain Man organisations such as ‘Milieudefensie’ and ‘Wakker Dier’ (Environmental movement and a PETA-like organisation) are currently tremendously successful in their ‘company campaigning’. They will publicly advertise which companies are ‘kosher’ and which aren’t. Ironically enough Ahold was deemed harāmafter they decided to go halal. Ideology is a bitch isn’t it?

The organisation will even go as far as naming and facilitating the alternatives. And though ‘naming and shaming’ isn’t new (Greenpeace has been doing it for years) and while consumers will not always readily oblige, companies, in this day and age, very nervous about their expensive images, will. This is root of the unforeseen success and this author thinks that it only demonstrates why companies are now reaching out to the customer.