Week 2: Integrating the Sejahtera Framework, Sustainable Development and Maqasid al-Shariah into Customer Awareness

 Assalamualaikum w.b.t,

   Today's post is my reflection of the second week classes of MKTG 4312 (Responsible Consumerism). In classes, we discussed on consumer awareness which in my opinion is the first step to reach the responsible consumer mindset. Consumers can only make wise and informed decision through having awareness. While I believe that it is first and foremost the manufacturers' responsibility to ensure that consumers are aware of all aspects of the product that they are using, in reality that is not the case. 

   Manufacturers are prone to be less transparent on the possible dangers of their products as it could lead to lower profits. As a result, increasing consumer awareness becomes a burden that consumers must bear. Consumer awareness activists have the tough task of bringing awareness to other customers. 

   There are 5 stages to customer awareness which are unaware, problem aware, solution aware, product aware and most aware. In my opinion, the vast majority of the population are either in the stages of unaware or problem aware. Being solution aware is a more complicated stage that requires the consumers to do a lot research that might take up more time than they have. At this point, the activists should gently guide them so that the average consumers do not feel overwhelmed. 

   Another important topic to discuss is the consumers' rights which is not something that is often discussed. Some of the rights include the rights to safety, information, choose, consumer education, and the right to seek redressal. In my opinion, to promote responsible consumerism, consumers need to know their rights and exercise them. In this age of internet, our data as consumers are often shared between manufacturers and service providers. Sometimes we're not even aware when our data is being used to promote unhealthy consumer habits. To combat this, educating consumers on their rights should be a priority for activists.

   Moving on to strategies to increase consumer awareness, Dr. Suhaimi related it dakwah and marketing. After all, the goals of dakwah and marketing are one and the same - to attract more people to look at the message that is being spread. Some strategies of increasing consumer awareness is to utilize search engines, social media and streaming websites such as YouTube. Marketers are available to gain more consumers if they are savvy on the habits of their target markets and where their target markets gather. An example that Dr. Suhaimi gave is during the latest General Election, a political party used TikTok to gain young voters. While some might disagree with their action, it can't be denied that their marketing strategy worked. 

   The most important part of the week's lessons is the revelation that awareness is the first step towards advocacy. Anyone can be an activist or an advocate, but the first step will always be awareness. While the road to responsible consumerism might seem like a steep mountain to climb, it is something that we will reach eventually through consumer awareness. 

Thank you for reading this week's post. Stay tuned for more from this blog.