Editing Consumer (section)

==Law and politics==
The law primarily uses a notion of the consumer in relation to [[consumer protection]] laws, and the definition of consumer is often restricted to living persons (not corporations or businesses) and excludes commercial users.<ref>{{cite book |last=Patton-Hulce |first=Vicki R. |title=Environment and the Law: A Dictionary |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=1995 |isbn=0-87436-749-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/environmentlaw00patt}}</ref>  A typical legal rationale for protecting the consumer is based on the notion of policing [[market failure]]s and inefficiencies, such as inequalities of bargaining power between a consumer and a business.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://law.vanderbilt.edu/journals/journal/35-01/overby.htm|title=An Institutional Analysis of Consumer Law|access-date=2007-01-29|publisher=Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070302211417/http://law.vanderbilt.edu/journals/journal/35-01/overby.htm |archive-date = March 2, 2007}}</ref> As all potential voters are also consumers, consumer protection has a clear political significance.

Concern over the interests of consumers has spawned [[consumer activism]], where organized activists do research, education and advocacy to improve the offer of products and services.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lightfoot |first=Elizabeth Bradford |date=2019-10-31 |title=Consumer Activism for Social Change |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31560773/ |journal=Social Work |volume=64 |issue=4 |pages=301–309 |doi=10.1093/sw/swz035 |issn=1545-6846 |pmid=31560773|hdl=11299/213786 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> [[Consumer education]] has been incorporated into some school curricula.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Royer |first=L. Gayle |title=The Value of Consumer Education in Increasing Effective Consumer Performance: Theory and Research |journal=Advances in Consumer Research |date=1980 |volume=7 |pages=203–206 |url=https://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/9231/volumes/v07/NA-07 |access-date=2 June 2024 |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407063844if_/https://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/9231/volumes/v07/NA-07}}</ref> There are also various non-profit publications, such as ''[[Which?]]'', ''[[Consumer Reports]]'' and ''[[Choice (Australian magazine)|Choice magazine]]'', dedicated to assist in consumer education and decision making.

In India, [[Consumer Protection Act, 1986|the Consumer Protection Act of 1986]] differentiates the consumption of a commodity or service for personal use or to earn a livelihood. Only consumers are protected per this act and any person, entity or organization purchasing a commodity for commercial reasons are exempted from any benefits of this act.<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.consumerdaddy.com/a-23-consumer-customer.htm
| title = Consumer vs Customer
| publisher = Consumerdaddy.com
| access-date = 2010-03-10
| quote = The consumer protection act 1986 of India, is a little more generous with the word 'Consumer'. According to this law, a consumer is not only a person who uses the product for domestic personal use, but also one who uses the product to earn his daily livelihood.
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100406020320/http://www.consumerdaddy.com/a-23-consumer-customer.htm
| archive-date = 2010-04-06
| url-status = dead
}}</ref>