Giving in to the Dark Side

Your mom is doing it. Your dad is doing it. Your friends are doing it. Your siblings do it. Your professors do it. They do it by themselves and sometimes in groups. It's safe to say...everybody's doing it. In some form or another, each of us as consumers are giving in to the dark side of consumer behavior, whether it be some form of compulsive buying or engaging in the black market to acquire certain products/ services.

As we discussed the topic "Dark Side of Consumer Behavior" and particularly the Black Market, it was interesting to note that the black market is not necessarily a physical location. My experience with black markets prior to this discussion has been with a physical location that we called "The Black Market."

Back when I was in high school in Zambia, it was an interesting dynamic in that we had one grocery store, owned by the school (a boarding school) that we were expected to purchase our products from. As you can imagine, this did not sit well with most people (as is often the case when people feel they are being coerced into doing something). People in the surrounding community realized this and created a separate channel where students could purchase their products. Of course, this did not sit well with the school administration, and the "market" was outlawed by the school. This did not deter the members of the community that started up this business venture, hence, earned the nickname "Blackie" coined after the black market that it was. There were no illegal items sold, but the fact that it was banned by the school administration highly motivated students to buy items from it rather than the school owned grocery store.

I am left to wonder if it is the same with today's non-physical black markets. Are they gaining popularity because consumers are acting to spite authorities? What is it about black markets that make them so appealing that we continued to participate in them despite knowing the potential negative effects they have? Are we as consumers purposely giving in to the dark side of consumer behavior?

I wonder...don't you?