Consumer Behavior and Attitude
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Vegan Activities: spectacularly inconvenient but morally right
The main points of the article
The article addresses issues surrounding consumer perception, attitude, and behavior. In particular, it talks about the decision by Vegan protestors to block one of the busiest intersections in Melbourne. The activities are calling for an end to the consumption of animal products. Central to their argument is that consuming animal products encourages an industry that is cruel and exploitative (Kiloren, 2019). For this reason, the industry kills tens of billions of animals every year. Consequently, the mere fact that individuals derive gustatory pleasure from this consumption cannot reasonably justify the support of individuals for such an industry (Kiloren, 2019). These arguments are not necessarily made by the activists. According to the recent survey evidence, many professional ethicists believe that it is immoral to consume animal products.
However, the article also presents contrary arguments to the views and perceptions of the vegans. One of the arguments stems from the fact that the market is extensive and producers cannot tailor their production in response to the purchasing habits of a single consumer. In this regard, most people argue that an individual consumer will not make a big difference when it comes to determining the perception and attitudes towards the consumption of animal products (Kiloren, 2019). Furthermore, the author presents the concept of “causal impotence” and describes an empirically plausible economic model where the decisions of the individual consumer in restaurants and grocery stores are likely to make a significant impact and difference.
The article and topics in microeconomics and macroeconomics
The first topic in microeconomics is consumer behavior, which is the central concept that stems from the entire article. Consumer behavior is the process of acquiring, consuming, and disposing of time and offerings. The offerings, in this aspect, include goods, ideas, and services by the decision-making units. The decision-making units include dyads, individuals, and larger groups. In terms of consumer behavior, the attitude of the consumer refers to the inner feelings regarding the favorableness or unfavorableness towards a given product or service offerings and the 4Ps of marketing. The views, about a consumer, are the expressions of inner feelings that reflect whether a person is predisposed to some “object” either favorably or unfavorably. The formation of attitude, on the other hand, is the procedure by which consumers form opinions or feelings toward products, other people, activities, ideas, and other objects within the consumer’s environment (Kiloren, 2019). In the article, the vegans have formed an attitude towards the consumption of animal products and believe that this is cruel to animals.
The second microeconomic concept from the article is consumer decisions and choice, which is based on the theory of consumer choice. The theory of consumer choice refers to the branch of microeconomics associated with the consumption expenditures and to the consumer demand curves. Simply put, consumer choice theory stipulates that a person chooses to buy the things from which he or she gets the greatest satisfaction. What’s more, consumer decision-making process entails identification of consumer needs, a collection of information, evaluation of alternatives, and making the purchasing decisions. Primarily, the author talks about the case made against the causal impotence response by Matthew Halteman and Steven McMullen (Kiloren, 2019). While describing the model, the two describe an empirically plausible model where the decisions made by the individual consumer in grocery stores can make a notable difference. The consumer decision, in this article, is to consume animal products and kill them or avoid consuming the animal products and ensure that they live. Furthermore, the consumer has to consider the tradeoff between ethical consumption and failing to consume and maximize utility.
Lastly, it can be deduced that the concepts of demand and supply theory. Demand and supply are concepts in macroeconomic theory that relates to the equilibrium between the demand for commodities and their supply to meet this demand. By stating that the market is vast, the author simply implies that producers have to supply to meet the demand of other consumers other than the vegans (Huang & Yin, 2017). The demand by the larger market should not be shortchanged because a few individuals consider the consumption of animal products as immoral. Because this market is diverse and thus producers must not calibrate their production in response to a single individual’s purchasing and consumption habits (Kiloren, 2019). By implication, producers have to meet the demand in the market even if a few consumers have dissenting opinions. To avoid interfering with the equilibrium in the market for animal products, the attorney general calls for the penalties to the vegan protestors.
The article is well written. First, the authors have looked at the argument from both the ethical perspective and from the perspective of economic theory. Ethically, the authors have tried as much as possible to explore the perspective of the demonstrating vegans who find it immoral to eat the animal products. From an economic perspective, the authors have examined the potential implications of such protests, which include a disruption of the demand and supply in the market. Finally, the author concludes that the market has to continue operating and not bow to the demands of a few dissenting voices. Consumers should be allowed to make their choices freely, and the producers have the responsibility to ensure that these demands are met.
Lessons learned from the article
The article has brought some insight into consumer theory and the theory of demand and supply. From the article, I learned that consumers have the choice to consume or not and the producers have the mandate to satisfy these demands. Choice, in this regard, should determine the provision of goods and services. For this reason, the choices made by many consumers in the market should override the tastes and preferences of a few consumers in the market. Secondly, the article teaches about the ethics of consumption and the fact the forces of demand and supply should override the other considerations. The equilibrium in the market is achieved when demand is equal to supply, and consumers have to optimize their consumption to be able to derive the utility that they need.
References
Huang, L., & Yin, L. (2017). Supply and demand analysis of water resources based on system dynamics model. Journal of Engineering and Technological Sciences, 49(6), 705-720.
Kiloren, D. (2019). Vegan activists: spectacularly inconvenient but morally right. Retrieved from https://www.smh.com.au/national/vegan-activists-spectacularly-inconvenient-but- morally-right-20190409-p51c9q.html [Accessed: April 10, 2019].