Is it Time to Kill the Term ‘Consumer’?

"All of them are people," concludes Norman. "All deserve their share of dignity. Their roles can be specified in other ways. It's time to wipe words such as consumer, customer and user from our vocabulary. Time to speak of people. Power to the people."

Words carry weight and impart meaning. Due to the fact the term "consumer" bears such a negative connotation, not to mention that it inaccurately describes how people shop today, perhaps it's time to, as Norman suggests, yank it from our vocabulary.