User:Jakemeisen81/Sustainable consumer behaviour

Things to add:


 * History section

- This will be where I add the bulk of my edits because this article completely lacks a history section

-I think it is very important when discussing the behavior of something, to look back in history to evaluate how people did it before in order to have greater perspective on the present.

-One other reason I believe a good history section is needed is because it is easy to think that consumption is just there for the taking, but in reality, sometimes it is something you need to fight for (like the meat strike).

I think the OPA should be mentioned under the history section because it played a huge role in the history of consumer behavior.


 * Women in the consumer market

- I think this will be a very valuable addition to this article because, we know that men and women were not created equally in the consumership of America.

History of Consumption Behavior:

Consumption Protests:

Consumption in America was not always as easy and convenient as we see it today. In 1935, immediately following the greatest depression of American history, prices for groceries, and other necessities started to soar. Among the prices to rise was the meat industry especially. Prices of meat got so high relative to what the average households were making that it led women to begin a meat protest in New York City, particularly in Harlem (How About Some Meat?). This boycott was started by a group of black women in Harlem who recognized that the price of meat was being controlled by the butchers of New York City in an act of price fixing, which is an illegal act today. During this period, black people earned less money than white people in the same cities, so black women were the first group of people to feel the effect of prices rising like they were. They went through the streets of Harlem from butcher shop to butcher shops with signs saying "Don't buy". By this time, the inflated prices rose to a point where everyone in the city was feeling the effects, and shortly thereafter, white women began to join the boycott alongside the black protesters. According to  'Daily Worker' the meat strike that occurred in Harlem was the most successful strike in any part of New York City (A Consumers' Republic).

The Office of Price Administration:

In 1941, President Roosevelt used an executive order to create the Office of Price Administration (OPA). The goal of this agency was to monitor the marketplace and set limits on the prices of most goods, and they also tried to limit the total consumption by implementing rationing. This was a decision made by President Roosevelt in order to ensure that in the heat of World War ll there would be enough resources for each American consumer. The American people were called upon by the government to make sacrifices for their country by properly rationing, and cutting back on things they may not need. In 1942, the first ration card was out into rotation to the American people. These ration cards were heavily used for groceries, though they were not limited to normal grocery items. As the war progressed, the OPA began to ration things like cars, gas, tires, oil, silk, and other clothes. These restrictions on American consumption came following the Great Depression just eight years after America started to recover, so the American people were use to living with less at the time. The OPA's rationing lasted through the end of the war, and then the prosperous fifties waited around the corner following the dark days of rationing.

Women in the Consumer Space:

In today's United States economy, women account for 85% of all consumer purchases (Girl Power Marketing). Though they make up the vast majority of consumers in America today, this was not always the case. During the turn of the twentieth century, it was very rare to see women out drinking alcohol in public for pleasure. Before the twentieth century, the only women who would typically drink were those of high prestige, and it would be for medical reasons, not exactly recreationally (Tippling Ladies). The main reason for the lack of women consumption of casual drinking was due to the lack of a place suited for women to do so. Once the prohibition ended, the men who were in charge of places that served alcohol started to see the value the women market had that they had ignored due to deeply rooted sexist attitudes of the time. Once they saw this market opportunity, they started to put it into action. Drug stores in Chicago were being converted into proper places for women to enjoy themselves and drink with their friends. The reason that new places were so effective in attracting women was because the established places were already overrun by men, and did not offer the most welcoming environment. This phenomenon did not just occur with alcohol but all products sold in the United States. From the end of the Second World War, as women became the primary consumers of their households, marketers needed to shift their entire marketing strategy to start to try attracting women.

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