Consumer Apathy

There are two senses in which the consumption activity of individuals tends to be described as apathetic. The term consumer apathy is sometimes used in marketing studies and financial journalism to classify certain forms of consumption decision making that result in consumers failing to respond to marketing messages. More generally, notions of consumer apathy are invoked in the context of political and ethical critiques of consumer culture, especially those discussing barriers to change in the nature of contemporary consumption in the developed world.

As an occasionally invoked marketing term, consumer apathy is used in a contestably apolitical manner to describe the tendency of consumers to resist changing from one product or brand to another. Similarly, consumers might be described as apathetic if they eschew particular forms ...