The predictable consumer no longer exists - our desires are too random

Companies and governments have got us all wrong - it's impossible to predict what we want and care about

Consumers today are often cast as god-like figures before whom markets and politicians bow. Everywhere, it seems, consumers are triumphant. Consumers drive production; they fuel innovation; they dictate modern politics; they have it in their power to save the environment or to destroy the planet.

The word consumer describes people as having certain experiences and taking certain actions individually or collectively (similar to worker, employee, manager).

The idea that the good life is to be found in freedom of choice and ever higher standards of consumption is finished

Related: We're more than mere consumers, and business should remember that