In the past, buying and selling products was much more basic than it is in the 21st century. For example, food and tools that one would use could be attained directly from nature, and were not very elaborate. The consumption from that time consisted in goods such as vegetables, potatoes, rice, beans, fruit, wood… and also in some cases more elaborate goods such as those of artisans, which includes other basic goods like shoes, clothing, and cooking utensils.
Currently, consumption is made up of all of the products we´ve mentioned, as well as a plethora of other goods that require a very long process of production. Medications, electric appliances, canned foods, soda… these are products that are made in factories, using complicated manufacturing methods that we are not well acquainted with. Furthermore, consumption is not limited to goods, but also services such as electricity, water, telephone service, transportation… Clearly, consumption nowadays is much more complicated than it used to be. As we will see, this has caused very profound changes in the relationship between buyers and sellers.
Very basically, these are the differences between past consumption characteristics and current consumption characteristics:
In the Past:
- There were few products for the consumer to choose from.
- Products were quite basic.
- The seller of a product was the person who had produced the product.
That is to say: Consumers are well aware of what they are buying, and the risks of buying said product.
In the Present:
- There is a huge quantity of products to choose from; new products are constantly appearing, newer models of older products are constantly developed, etc.
- Products are developed through various, complicated manufacturing processes.
- In many cases, the person who sells a product is not the same person who produced that product. Goods pass through many hands before arriving in the hands of the consumer.
That is to say: Consumers are not well aware of what they are buying, and thus they are not well aware of the risks of buying said product.
If in the past consumers were perfectly aware of the products they were buying, their manufacturing processes, which ones were good and which ones were not so good, in the present day, it is practically impossible to have this information about a great deal of the products we consume! How do we know if a medication has expired? Or if an electric home appliance is well made? Or if it is dangerous to consume a particular product?
In the present day:
Consumers are in a position of misinformation or missing information, which puts them at a disadvantage, and makes them weak players compared to companies and corporations. Consumption today is more risky, and even dangerous, than more basic consumption in the past.
In order to rectify the inequality that exists between the consumer and the producer, the Rights of the Consumer was created to establish a series of rights for consumers, as well as obligations of the producer to protect the well-being of consumers.
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But with the approval of Law 182:
