Building public awareness of consumerism is not an easy thing, there are many factors so that one can understand more about how important consumerism is. There is a role for parents as a child's first life teacher, peers and people around them as the place and environment for the person to live, non-governmental organizations that focus on consumerism as an association that moves to ensure the rights of society towards consumerism are guaranteed, and the government as law enforcement so that what the people consume is safe and secure. For example, a child who likes to eat candy will always ask his parents to buy him candy, but candy and all sweet things if not controlled will be very dangerous for the health of the child's own body, therefore it is important for his parents to explain and provide education to the child from an early age about the dangers of eating too much candy. This is just one example of community education that departs from the most intimate thing in life, namely the family. There are still hundreds of millions of people in the world who need to gain an understanding of consumerism and this can only be done if the factors I mentioned above work together to form consumer awareness so that responsible consumerism can be realized.
Public education on consumerism should be carried out as early as possible, such as since the person is still in elementary school. Such as basic education that the food they consume should not be excessive so that it is not redundant or education that buying toys or clothes is just enough so that it is not excessive. Considering this education issue, since I was little, my parents always bought things that were really important to me, not just what I wanted, such as clothes, pants, or shoes. Until now when I am older, I will only buy things when I really need them, not just because I want them.
Apart from the formal education one goes through during school and college, public education on consumerism can also be done through training and development. There are 4 ways to be able to carry out the training and development. The first way is to be reactive, where we as educators only run training according to community requests without any further evaluation, therefore the level of success can only be seen by how much the training is carried out. The second is responsive, slightly better than reactive, in a responsive way, a trainer will pay more attention to the progress of the people they train by conducting evaluations and making L&D plans according to the request of the trainees. So with this, the standard of success is seen from the satisfaction of all stakeholders.
Next is to be proactive, here coaches are required to be more initiative towards those being trained, because being proactive means that coaches must be able to understand what trainees need without having to be told by them. Finally, being strategic, this has a wider scope than being proactive, because trainers are required to examine the implications for systems, environment, and organizational culture after the training is carried out. This requires deep thinking from a coach to be able to understand the implications that will be received by the training organizers internally and externally.
The last thing that can be done to increase consumer awareness is to hold social activism. Broadly speaking, this social activism has 4 branches, namely citizens, reformers, rebels, and change agents. All four of them have advantages and disadvantages and all four of them are often used by the public in conveying their aspirations about consumerism. For example, in the form of a rebel, when the price of oil or gasoline rises and in the end causes the price of basic commodities to experience inflation, people living in a democratic country like Indonesia will stage large demonstrations carried out by students and workers. Starting from demonstrations that are safe, so things that can be considered dangerous, such as burning tires and at worst, destroying public facilities. But on the other hand, by making damage, the demonstrators will later get the attention of policy holders and finally policy holders will discuss to solve the problem of rising oil and gasoline prices so that people can live comfortably again.
However, in terms of conveying aspirations, there is a verse in the Qur'an about how important it is to convey good advice "So talk to both of you (Pharaoh) with soft words, hopefully he will realize or be afraid." (QS. Thaha: 44). Therefore, as a Muslim, it is better for us to convey something related to consumerism properly according to Islamic teachings.
Building consumerism awareness, is something that is educated to someone since they were small. There are many parties who must be involved to build consumerism awareness, such as parents, schools, NGOs, and the government.
BalasHapus