ABSTRACT
The commitments and obligations of contemporary consumerism typically involve deception. This deception encourages the consumer to believe in the transformative virtues of the promoted product, typically packaged in a story that relies upon an absence of transparency. Consumerism gains its power over us through deception and exploits the distancing of consumption from production enabled by globalization. Consumerism is based in a post-cautionary economy that 'follows the money', even when there are likely to be heavy environmental and social costs involved. A lack of transparency supports consumer deception, and can lead to the collapse of trust in a company as well as in the services offered by governments. A closely related principle to truthfulness is transparency, which is especially applicable in governance, supply chains and product and service management. Despite the interest of marketers in this area, co-creation is a neglected tool for achieving greater respect and equity in the field of production and consumption, in both commerce and government.
