What is an "ethical consumer?

What is consumer capitalism?

• Wikipedia definition -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_capitalism Consumer capitalism is a theoretical economic and social political condition in which http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demand is manipulated, in a deliberate and coordinated way, on a very large scale, through http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass-marketing techniques, to the advantage of sellers. The theory is controversial. It suggests manipulation of consumer demand so potent that it has a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coercion effect, amounts to a departure from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-market_capitalism, and has an adverse effect on society in general. Some use the phrase as shorthand for the broader idea that the interests of other non-business entities (governments, religions, the military, educational institutions) are intertwined with corporate business interests, and that those entities also participate in the management of social expectations through mass media. Past that, I feel the phrase is used as a pejorative.

• Answer:

  You've answered the question. Anything else is opinion. You feel it's pejorative because consumerism doesn't connect us to life and doesn't make us happy. We need self-actualisation for that, and preferably natural surroundings, with all the benefits humanity has striven to equip itself with, not in the name of profit, but in the name of passion for life.