In the text is the issue of consumer protection put in a broader social context and the issue of consumers and consumer behaviour is analyzed from the sociological perspective. The author emphasizes especially the social context in order to outline the reason why unfair businessmen (called "šmejdi" in the Czech republic) still have new customers. For higher efficiency of the legislation related to the topic of these businessmen is necessary to involve - in addition to the law which is one instrument of social control - also other control systems, such as the family, the neighbourhood, the activities of civil society, education and training with the effort to uncover the mechanisms that still pushing us into higher and higher consumption.