Grappling with the Enduring Challenges of Consumption Complex Syndrome in Nigeria (A Survey of the Footwear Industry)

Abstract

Colonial experience, buoyed by global media, brought in its wake, an attitudinal predisposition towards foreign culture and products, to the detriment of the domestic economy and identity. Besides the existing stream of relevant literature, this paper aims at a comparative attitude measurement, as well as exploring the underpinnings of sustained choice irrationality in favor of foreign-labeled products. Using experiments in the footwear industry, this study established the prevalence of a "Consumption Complex Syndrome (CCS)"--a state of consumer mind that consistently predisposes him to foreign-labeled products, even when the domestic ones are preferred in a Blind Brand Experiment. The concomitant policy, entrepreneurial imperatives and a reconstruction of the Consumer Behaviour model are considered. Keywords: Consumption complex syndrome, Shoes, Attitude, Bakassi lines, Indigenous entrepreneurship