Educação do consumidor e práticas de consumo

Abstract

The excessive consumption of goods and services is a fact that has increased considerably in the current society, governed by an economic exploitative capitalist system. The media's influence over customers’ consumption practices is the causing factor of this exaggerated consumption, and is extremely worrying, given the fact that people absorb these standards imposed by the media, transforming them into actual cultural references. There are also other factors that may influence the act of consumption, which can be personal - related to consumer psychological responses - and external - involving the environment surrounding it. Considering these variables, it is important to have an intervention that intends to help the consumers dealing with what prevents them from properly managing their consumption. This reserch addresses a consumer education perspective, ranging from learning theories and consumption practices used by consumers, to consumers’ vulnerability, which is related to the also negative influence of the media. Public policies that will interfere in favor of consumers are also addressed. Interviews using oral history method were applied to analyzes the reports of 15 consumers telling their own experiences of consumption throughout life, as a complementary study it was made a research of netnography inspiration, divided into two parts, the first one, it was analyzed comments on anti-consumption pages on facebook, and the second part is the application of three interviews with users of a site about conscious consumption. The chosen method to develop the discussion of the data obtained, was the contents analysis. This study aims to understand how learning occurs, as well as how consumer education can result in an improved consumption management by the individual. It suggests, through the TCR (Transformative Consumer Research), that the studies regarding the same subject as this, are applied in order to improve consumer’s social living conditions, modifying their behavior into more conscious actions, aimed on behalf of the individual and society’s welfare.