Point of View: The future of advocacy

This article suggests that marketers' increasing preference for the term "prosumer" (fusing "consumer" with "professional" or "producer") over "advocate" is a reaction against the growing commercialisation of online opinion and the growth of negative connotations around advocacy.

Point of View: The future of advocacy

Molly Flatt1000heads

What on earth is a prosumer? It sounds like it might refer to someone following the latest Neanderthal diet or positive psychology programme, but it may well describe you. The term was coined by Alvin Toffer in his 1980 book The Third Wave to describe someone who is both a 'consumer' and a 'professional' or 'producer': essentially, 'consumers unusually interested in [certain] products'. Essentially, people who are evangelical about, and valuable to, their chosen brands.

It's not hard to see why the term is gaining new resonance. It...

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