A look at the impact of ICT on the informational power relationship between corporations and consumers

Prior to the proliferation of access to global computer networks, people were mainly passive consumers of corporate information disseminated via centrally owned and operated media, such as broadcasting, television, and newspapers. Branding is a marketing technique that has largely benefited from this unidirectional information flow to consumers from corporate information sources. Branding aims at positioning products in the consumer's mind by associating a product, a service or a corporation with a unique name, logo, or selling theme, such as belonging to a certain group because of consuming a particular product. ICT, such as the Internet and the World Wide Web in particular, have enabled ordinary people to disseminate information to a large audience as well as to retrieve information from a variety of information sources beyond corporate spheres of influence. This means that ICT directly impact the informational power relationship between corporations and consumers. This paper examines the current role of information and communication technologies in this context, and speculates on future roles of ICT.