And when we say everything changed—
Twenty-five years after Alvin Toffler coined the term “Prosumer” in his book The Third Wave, Consumer Anthropologist Robbie Blinkoff says the Prosumer is officially here to stay and that this holiday season is their coming of age. “Think of it as the coming out party for a new species, an evolution in a consumer mindset. It is now the producers—companies, manufacturers, marketers and retailers, who need to adapt,” said Blinkoff.
A Prosumer is part producer part consumer [sic]. Prosumers are engaged in a creative process of producing a product and service portfolio with guidance from trusted friends—the companies they’ve trusted for years and the new ones they’ve come to love.
Certainly Toffler’s prophesy was becoming a reality with mass computer consumption, Internet, Cable TV and digital technologies available, but Blinkoff, a Principal Anthropologist at Context-Based Research Group in Baltimore, says something dramatic happened to the Prosumer landscape that sped up the evolutionary process. That monumental event was 9/11.
“9/11 unleashed a full scale remapping of the cultural landscape. People were and are re-establishing their identities—their sense of who they are,” said Blinkoff. “And given that consumerism is at the core of our culture, its no surprise that we went to our culture core to help us regain our identity.”
—RedNova, “The Prosumers Have Arrived and Will Be Out in Full Force This Holiday Season, According to Context-Based Research Group,” via Purse Lip Square Jaw
Commenting is closed for this article.
I will buy nothing the day after Turkey Day.
I LOVE this campaign!
I think I'm going to, like, buy some wine by the glass in Singapore. am I selling out to the man?
Not at all, belle; I myself will be buying some black beans (for a chocolate chili) and an alarm clock (to replace the one knocked over last night by rampaging kittens) in just a couple of hours. What is key, I think, is that I won't be buying these objects, and you won't be buying your wine, as an attempt to reconnect with the core of our culture in the wake of 9/11.
(I probably should have included more snark. Honestly, I thought the passage snarked for itself. In the current context.)
*stuff* is so overrated. down with *stuff*
...and stuff.
cool campaign