...just a little anecdote...
...I was at work last night [in the mall] talking to a couple of my
coworkers about point-of-purchase demographic monitoring tactics and
their implications for redefining our predominant social role to
[consumers of products] rather than [participants in an evolving
social structure] - consumerism vs citizenship I guess - and got an
interesting reply in response to some of my assertions:
"I'm a consumer, not a person."
...said quite seriously with no insinuation of irony...
-psypher