FEATURES: EMPOWERED BUYERS - Asia's once docile consumers are revelling in their new-found empowerment, keeping companies on their toes

Asia is experiencing the first throes of consumer activism, and consumers are coming to grips with their power at a time when regional economies are heading towards greater liberalisation and competition. While consumers in the West are agitating over genetically-modified crops and the growing threat of globalised capitalism, the key worries afflicting Asian consumers appear to be over pricing and quality. Indeed, this is borne out in consumer protests organised in the last few months, which also indicate that consumer empowerment is taking hold across the region, but at a varying pace: - SK Oil was forced to drop its price increase in Korea after consumer groups ran a campaign urging people to boycott the company. - Last month, a South Korean civic group called for a boycott of Japanese products following the revision of a Japanese school history textbook, which it claimed justified Japan's occupation of Korea in the early part of the last century. - Globe, the mobile phone service provider in the Philippines, faced strong public clamour when it could not provide service to customers after Nokia installed an upgrade. Globe was then forced to appease customers with free phone services for a while. A survey by ICOM agencies in Asia-Pacific conducted exclusively for media found consumer empowerment growing in most countries the network operates in, with Hong Kong being something of an exception. Jeffrey Schultz, managing director of PR firm Golin Harris in Singapore, says: "There's been some progress, but it has been very slow and Asia is still about 10 to 15 years behind the US and Europe. It also varies throughout the region." John Cohen, principal of ICOM-affiliated agency PMP Advertising, notes that Hong Kong consumers are actively protesting, but rarely do the campaigns succeed. "I cannot think of any consumer initiatives that have succeeded," he says, pointing to banking giant HSBC pushing ahead with plans to charge for services that were previously free. About 50,000 depositors switched their business to other banks, but as Cohen fully expects, the bank will shake off the loss and its action is likely to encourage others to follow suit. The same old explanation about Hong Kong being apathetic is offered as the excuse although this is unlikely to hold water much longer. In recent months, Hong Kong residents have come out in force clamouring for political change and protesting depressed property prices and a range of other issues. Still, the image of an apathetic Hong Kong remains entrenched overseas. Tham Khai Meng, regional creative director for Ogilvy & Mather, notes: "There's lots of wealth there and information on the environment, for example, but they don't seem to be too worried about what goes into Hong Kong harbour or whether the products they purchase have been tested on animals." In contrast, consumer activism has grown stronger in recent years, fuelled in a large part by the near collapse of the country's economy and the retrenchment of thousands of workers. The protests against SK Oil and Japanese products are among a handful of actions waged by its consumers. Last year, when Pulmouone wanted to differentiate its dofu from others by claiming that it is made only of domestic beans, a consumer group proved its claim false following thorough testing. H S Lim, president of ICOM-affiliate Smart Group, said this became a serious issue because of concerns about a lack of truthfulness. Lim noted that consumer empowerment has been growing rapidly under the current government of pro-democracy advocate Kim Dae-Jung, a radical change from the military regimes that governed the country in the 70s and 80s. Japan's consumers, once a docile group, have been equally tenacious in wielding their new-found power, prodded on by 10 years of economic stagnation and some of the highest prices in the world. Shoichi Hoshi, international advisor at Nihon Keizai, however noted that there are fewer protests these days as prices have been falling. But it's arguable whether the consumer protests or a tottering economy depressed prices. Singaporean consumers are perhaps showing the strongest inclination to exercise the power of their dollars. But their concerns are decidedly prosaic. Andrew Pirie, managing director of PR firm Weber Shandwick, notes: "Consumers are becoming more demanding, not about political or social issues, but more about product prices and reliability. Weber Shandwick had included Singapore as the only Asian country in its recent international survey, which evaluated consumer concerns. Adds Shultz of Golin Harris: "Singapore is a little bit more laidback so there's a bit more room for consumer empowerment." And Singaporeans have been taking the opportunity to voice their concerns about unfair trade practices with unusual gusto, sending a chilling warning to companies that ignore them. Ericsson is a case in point. Originally, the Consumer Association of Singapore (CASE) had been pursuing an individual complaint against the telecoms equipment provider. But when CASE spoke to the company, it realised that the problem was more widespread because it was caused by a component defect from one of the manufacturing arms. To its credit, Ericsson responded quickly to CASE's complaints and agreed to replace the faulty handsets for free. Anthony Kang, chief executive at AdGrand, an ICOM agency, believes consumer empowerment is more apparent in Singapore because CASE is very active. If that's not enough, the government is looking to give CASE more teeth, which may see it acting like a fair trading office, according to senior minister for trade and industry, Peter Chen. He suggested that the ministry jointly lead a task force to strengthen consumer protection laws and look at ways to empower CASE to carry out its duties more effectively. A proposal before the ministry argues that fair trading legislation will help reputable businesses by getting rid of "cowboys" tarnishing their industries. "If you look at the industries that have bad companies involved, they're big industries. Time share is a big industry and the concept itself is not bad, but there are so many companies in that industry and some are not doing things properly. We need fair trading legislation to clean up industries like this," says an observer. If CASE succeeds in transforming itself into a fair trading office, it will be a rare breed in the region. As one observer points out, the closest Asia has to fair trading legislation is in Hong Kong and Japan. "There is definitely a need for it because we have so many problems with things like high pressure sales tactics and bait and switch." The media in Singapore remains a powerful force in shaping consumer activism in the city. When the local broadsheet, the Straits Times, ran stories on higher bank fees and petrol prices, its Forum section was flooded with letters of complaint. Says Schultz of Golin Harris: "That newspaper plays a major role in shaping public opinion because it decides which issues are important. Singapore companies are scared of the letters pages." Basskaran Nair, head of PR firm Basskaran & Partners International, says corporations studiously monitor the Forum section to see if they are mentioned. Businesses take notice of the Forum page because they know if "they don't respond to concerns raised in the letters pages then the story will make headlines in the news pages", says Stephen Loke, chairman of the consumer affairs committee at CASE. With the furore over petrol prices, one oil company was so concerned about letters appearing in the Forum pages that it reportedly organised a private briefing for journalists. The oil retailers also discounted oil prices at select outlets and employed PR companies to generate news stories in the papers about "sale days". Local banks in Singapore have also been using public relations agencies extensively, but according to Shultz at Golin Harris, the banks are "purely reactive". "They're not anticipating the consumer backlashes. The increase in fees - which was justifiable - wasn't properly explained at the beginning so people got upset. Eventually, they communicated why they were increasing fees but the damage was pretty much done." Loke at CASE says some banks are "recalcitrant" but they are slowly "realising without consumer support they are nothing". Some banks have also been hit hard by growing shareholder activism. Since 1997, at least 15 major shareholder associations have started up across Asia. Singapore's United Overseas Bank (UOB), for example, has been fined Sdollars 222,000 (USdollars 122,000) by the Singapore Stock Exchange after a shareholder group claimed the bank had artificially pushed up the subscription price for shares in eWorldofSports.com. Basskaran at BPI says companies have responded to shareholder activism by being more open to minority shareholders. He says companies are providing more comprehensive press releases and using the web to disclose more information. But consumer groups still face an uphill battle if the companies being targeted are government-linked. "The problem is if you start criticising government linked companies then it's not a great leap of logic to say 'hey you're criticising the government," explains Shultz at Golin Harris. He says in many countries "corporate authority is authority and Asian people are generally less likely to question authority". Meanwhile, as consumers protest over high prices and product quality, there seems to be relatively little concern for environmental issues in Asia. "Price plays a big role," says one observer. Pirie at Weber Shandwick agrees. "For example, McDonald's kept using polystyrene packaging here long after Western markets changed over to recyclable paper. "And when they did change over it wasn't in response to consumer pressure." Christopher Lee at Asian Geographic says that when there are cause-related marketing campaigns in the region it tends to be by multinationals rather than local companies. "We've tried to get advertisers to take a stance on the environment, but Asian companies are very reluctant to do this. Sometimes a multinational company will want to do something but then there is resistance from managers in the local offices." Overall, consumer activism is growing but it is coming off a low base. Asian consumers are enjoying more power than before partly because they are wealthier and have access to greater information thanks to the web. "This means they can compare prices across countries, find out what companies are doing in different countries and mobilise support for certain causes," explains Tham at O&M. The downside is that Asian consumers are less political than people in the West and there is very little in the way of consumer protection laws in this region. This may explain why there isn't a culture of consumer activism, says Lee at Asian Geographic. "The whole economic imperative in many countries is to help businesses and as a consequence consumers come last."

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