ABSTRACT
“This is the plight of the contemporary consumer, forced to advance through a moral jungle littered with the debris of two centuries of heated debate on the vices and virtues of consumption. Consumption is definitely not an innocent pursuit” – Xavier de la Vega
As we follow consumer behaviour since the 1970s, we will attempt to describe the consumer’s development in terms of the aforementioned criteria first, and then paint a portrait of the consumer of the future: the emancipated consumer.
The consumer is no longer deceived by the economic and market system that he or she inhabits and does not feel indebted to it – quite the contrary, as a matter of fact. In the same way that the individual has moved away from traditional authorities, he no longer acknowledges this system as an infallible source of truths. On the contrary, she quite rightly thinks that the system has failed and that it is consequently unsatisfactory.
Whether we call them Gen Y, Gen Z, digital natives, or millennials, even though they are fully aware that the world in which they live is suffering, they are able to imagine ways to advance, gather entire tribes around an idea, and share their interests. If we make the effort to see the world through their eyes, we will discover a different view of the world, a relaxed and stimulating one, a vision that confirms for us that marketing is indeed using an obsolete model.
