Constructing the Global Consumer: The Role of the NGO

The effective marketing campaigns of many international nongovernmental organizations (NGO) go some way in challenging the traditional view of the consumer citizen as the die hard `shop til you drop' customer, constantly on the lookout for the next best deal. This book draws from interpretive analysis to dissect the cosumer identity frames used by NGOs in their various marketing campaigns and analyse how they contest and subvert traditional commercially-oriented consumerist pursuits in an attempt to expand and challenge the identity boundaries which have been commercially constructed for the "consumer-citizen." Tian surveys a broad range of international case studies from Europe, Scandinavia, India and the Asia Pacific, looking at campaigns such as Fair Trade Coffee, Conflict Diamonds, "UnWrapped Gifts" and companies such as Oxfam, Habitat, and Unicef among others. This book highlights that the activist identities created by NGOs prescribe consumer practices which are much more creative than mere boycotting and material abstinence, re-educating the consumer-citizen to think critically in order to learn how to consume in new ways that merge with global humanitarian interests.