The powers that be: consumers vs. companies

Colin Hannifin
Columnist

Near the end of September last year, Bank of America announced a $5-per-month debit-card fee. By the first of November, barely a month later, Bank of America announced that it would not go forward with its debit-card fee plan.

In mid-September Netflix announced that its DVD mailing business would be spun off into a new, separate business, named Qwikster. Less than a month later, in early October, Netflix decided it would keep the DVD business after all.

In late October, the Stop Online Piracy Act, better known as SOPA, was introduced to the House of Representatives. On Jan. 20 of this year, plans to move the bill forward were effectively silenced, and the bill was shelved.

What do all these events, and the many more unlisted, have in common? These large entities changed their plans, changed the way they were going to do business because of consumers like us.

Over the past year, it has become clear that consumers now have more power than ever, thanks to the Internet. The Internet allows us to connect and organize faster and more strongly than ever before. We’re living in an age that is unlike any other in history. We have more power than any generation before. It’s up to us to make sure we use that power responsibly.

Companies have always had to be wary of public opinion. But sufficiently large corporations could typically weather the storm. A debit-card fee just a generation ago would have been unpopular, but, mostly, customers would have gritted their teeth and bore it.

But no longer.

Bank of America, the largest bank in the United States, fell far with the consumer backlash: Hundreds of thousands signed online petitions against the fee, and tens of thousands more pledged to cancel their checking accounts with the bank. Bank of America quickly stepped down.

The question becomes: How do we use this power?

We’re the most connected and tech-savvy generation the world has ever seen, and we have the ability to organize and mobilize in mere moments. We’re also among the most socially conscious and are pushing companies towards environmentalism because they know that’s what we would prefer to buy.

Yet the movements that have made the biggest waves are for those things that most directly affect us; with everything else, we’re still surprisingly forgiving: Five dollars a month to use our debit card? No thanks. Two websites to order as many movies as we want? No way. SOPA? No. Apple’s deplorable factory conditions to assemble iPhones and iPads? Eh, but they’re so useful and shiny.

We have a power no other generation has ever had: the power of numbers, the power of people. We have the ability to force companies’ hands and make them act responsibly and fairly. We don’t even have to leave the comfort of our couches (though some still do); all we need is an Internet connection. The power that makes videos viral can make companies listen, for once. Hundreds of thousands of voices aren’t as easy to ignore as just one.

Yet, somehow, despite it being so easy, people still don’t care enough. At a time when many of us can sign a petition or join a protest from our phones, the activism hasn’t increased. Even as socially conscious as our generation is, we’re egocentric.

As the ability to interconnect becomes something we take for granted, the more our focus shifts to ourselves. It’s hard to protest Apple from an iPhone, and it’s easier to say nothing at all.

But is it right?