Consumer Engineering

Calkins first introduced the term "consumer engineering" in a speech addressed to advertisers at a Washington convention. Upon obtaining Calkins' consent, Roy Sheldon and Egmont Arens felt it so accurately represented the new focus in business at the time, they wrote the book Consumer Engineering A New Technique for Prosperity. The purpose of the book was to supply a means to reach the consumer, the center of the business universe (Sheldon and Arens, 1932).

Calkins supplied the introduction to their work. In it he defined consumer engineering as a business tool that fashions products to address more closely the tastes or needs of the consumer. A broader definition consists of any action that stimulates the consumption of goods. Calkins acknowledges its practice has been pursued occasionally in the past, but the current implementation makes it worthy of a name and recognition (Calkins, 1932). Calkins comments that shaping the goods does not mean a simple color change, or more attractive package design. Instead, the process involves changing ordinary goods to modern, distinctive ones (Calkins, 1932). This consumer focus is a new phenomenon relative to the days when the manufacturer made production decisions without factoring in the consumer; the mentality was that the consumer could then take or leave the item (Calkins, 1932). Interestingly, consumer engineering benefits advertisers by supplying them with new product information to reveal in their ads. In turn, the advertisers will be held accountable to these new product claims, thus benefiting the whole of society (Calkins, 1932).

In economic terms, Calkins explains that spending, not saving, produces prosperity. By providing workers with higher wages, and increasing their stock ownership in companies, more goods are purchased. The process repeats itself as these same employees become owners of their own factories. It is the job of the consumer engineer to ensure that there is always an adequate supply of consumers to prevent underconsumption. Calkins notes that possible obstacles to consumer buying are obsolete goods, or simply that the consumer lacks money. An additional responsibility of the consumer engineer is to ensure that all goods, including everyday items such as toothpaste, and luxury items such as cars, are used up, and not merely used (Calkins, 1932). This consumption process should continue until all goods we can possibly produce are consumed ( Calkins, 1932). The new challenge of business is making goods desirable while, at the same time, ensuring that consumers are able to pay for them. Reducing consumption, on the other hand, equates to regression in society. It cannot be justified until every individual possesses the essentials required for a comfortable existence (Calkins, 1932).

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