During the last few years around a dozen boycotts have been called in Hungary; there are several ecologically and socially aware food-communities directly linking consumers and producers; at the end of 2006 a Fair Trade shop opened in Budapest, and there are product campaigns which accentuate various patriotic themes. All of these initiatives signal the emergence of new attitudes and values, a new type of behavior, that of ethical consumption. Ethical consumption, new kinds of consumer needs are influencing market culture through the creation of various market-niches (see corporate social responsibility); furthermore, the wide-scale spread of ethical consumption can even lead to the transformation of market functions. The modern market is going from a mainly economic space to an area of moral action, a tool of regulation and social participation. As a social movement ethical consumerism can effect political culture and play an important role in public policy aiming towards sustainable development. According to West-European literature as well as to concrete experience ethical consumerism is more and more playing this role, 1 the local appearance of the movement beckons the question: what sort of values and institutions characterize this new consumer culture, and which of these can we encounter in Hungary? The first part of this study deals with the phenomena of ethical consumption: it gives an overview of the literature, explicating the main research themes, and introducing its distinctive, most often examined forms of action. In the second part of the study, out of the interpretational possibilities, I look at ethical consumption as political consumption, as a form of social governance, examining its relevance as a way of public participation. I try to find an answer to the question whether the spread of ethical consumption should be imagined at the demise of classical political institutions, or as complementary to them, and which ethical issues are most likely to mobilize the public. The study is primarily based on data describing Hungarian political participatory culture, as well as an attitude survey of a representative sample. At the end of the study I will briefly refer to the possible causes of differences in ethical consumption attitudes and behaviors.

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Unhealthy foods and drinks are among the top products advertised to young children. Considering the growing childhood obesity epidemic and the soaring number of children accessing the Internet, even online junk food advertising has come under increasing scrutiny. Many countries are in the process of expanding and revising existing regulation to account for the realities of the digital age and to respond to health and other social concerns. This paper focuses on two European countries in particular to examine and compare these processes through the lens of junk food advergames aimed at children. Our questions are: 1) Given the differences in the media landscapes of the UK and Hungary, what types of junk food advergames target children?; and 2) In light of the growing childhood obesity problem faced by both nations, how have government bodies, advocacy groups, and advertisers approached junk food advertising targeting children in general and online advertising including advergames in particular? The United Kingdom represents a country with the highest Internet usage by children and the most developed online advertising market in Europe, while Hungary, a post-communist country, represents an emerging media market where young people have less access to the Internet and buying power but constitute a crucial “entry point” for food advertisers.

This chapter compares political consumerism in Western Europe and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) as well as within the CEE region, using European Social Survey, Special Eurobarometer, Fairtrade sales, and qualitative data. The chapter begins by discussing the largely neglected legacy of the socialist era for political consumerism. The discussion then compares European countries along twenty-two aspects of political consumerism, encompassing everyday consumer choices, attitudes, and awareness. The chapter shows, first, that certain forms of political consumerism cross-cut the East-West divide. Second, it proposes a threefold classification of the CEE countries (Mainstreamer, Reluctant Comfortable, and Passively Willing). Finally, the chapter outlines a version of political consumerism, referred to as the embedded politics of everyday life, prevalent in CEE, which differs from its Western counterpart in that it is less linked to political action and more to everyday ethics, such as thrift and patriotism.