Academic literature on the topic 'Konsumentpolitik'

Det råder en stor överkonsumtion i de rika länderna i väst. Det finns fortfarande människor som svälter trots att den totala produktionen och konsumtionen beräknas överstiga jordens långsiktiga bärkraft med ca 25 %. De insatser som tidigare gjorts av regeringen för att uppnå hållbarhet har mest skett mot producentsidan men de har inte fått den effekt som önskats och nu är det dags att satsa på konsumenterna. I mars i år, 2006, överlämnade regeringen till riksdagen en proposition för en ny konsumentpolitik. Det nya övergripande målet enligt propositionen är ”trygga konsumenter som handlar hållbart”. I och med detta läggs mycket vikt vid konsumenternas förmåga och vilja att välja rätt ur miljömässig synvinkel. Genom bland annat en ökad kunskap om miljöproblemen ska vi som konsumenter lära oss att välja ”rätt” för att minska vår miljöpåverkan. Det finns dock många komplexa psykologiska aspekter som hänger ihop med konsumtionen och det miljövänliga (eller ovänliga) beteendet. Vår livsstil spelar också stor roll för sättet vi konsumerar på. Att nu börja lägga mer tyngdpunkt på medborgarna själva och deras förmåga att förändra ligger helt i linje med de tankar och det forskningsområde som nu växer fram angående environmental citizenship. Vägen mot hållbar utveckling går även där via medborgarna och inte enbart politikerna. Om vi, som svenska medborgare, tar emot det så har regeringen gett ansvaret för förändring till oss.

There is vast overconsumption occurring in the wealthy countries of the West. People are still starving in the world although total production and consumption is calculated to exceed the earth’s carrying-capacity by about 25 %. Efforts that have been made earlier have mostly been aimed at production but have not had the desired effect, and now it’s time to concentrate on the consumers. In March 2006, the Swedish government handed over a proposition for a new consumer politics to the parliament. The new overarching objective according to the proposition is “safe and secure consumers who act sustainably” which implies much emphasis on the ability and will of consumers to make the “right” choices from an environmental perspective. Through an increased knowledge, among other things, about environmental problems we as consumers are supposed to learn how to choose “correctly” in order to decrease our environmental impact. There are, however, many complex psychological aspects connected to consumption and environmentally friendly (or unfriendly) behaviour. Our lifestyle also has a big part to play in our manner of consumption. To focus more on the citizens themselves and their ability to make changes is directly in line with the thoughts and the emerging research concerning environmental citizenship, where the road towards sustainability is determined by the citizens and not only the politicians. If we accept, the government has given us the responsibility for a change.

This thesis concerns the development of the self-regulation of advertising in Sweden from 1950 until 1971. Self-regulation was initiated in the 1930s due to a business desire to regulate fair competition in marketing, and while it initially was a minor operation, the 1950s and 1960s were characterized by extensive development. When self-regulation was overtaken by state policies in 1971, it included several interlocking systems, of which parts survived the introduction of the state regime. The thesis’ aim has been to analyze how the rapid regime transitions in the self-regulation regime can be understood. The existing literature identifies four major transitions that occurred during the studied time period. To understand them, the thesis has studied the policy processes leading up to these transitions. Focus has been on the business interest organizations that controlled the regime and their regulatory strategies. Theoretically, the analysis has departed from the hypothesis that tensions between these organizations, due to their members’ different market interests and varying levels of exposure to regulation and public badwill, to a significant degree informed their strategic choices as well as policy outcomes. The results show that the policy processes preceding the regime transitions were characterized by internal tensions, whereby organizations representing advertisers, and to a lesser degree media carriers, due to their members’ higher level of exposure to regulation and public badwill, successfully supported stronger market policing, while ad agencies, being less exposed, as well as a peak industry organization for the proliferation of marketing largely opposed such measures, preferring a more lenient regulation. However, due to increased exposure to regulation and bad will, the ad agencies finally abandoned their opposition and took the lead in regulatory innovation through the introduction of an extensive clearance program that survived the launch of the state regime, becoming a key component in the co-regulatory structure that followed.