A question about zombies

Ok, so we have all seen either the 1978 or the 2004 versions of Dawn of the Dead.

For those of you who haven't, these are the zombie movies that follow a group of survivors who hole up in a shopping mall while the world is consumed by the living dead. I have always heard that the original was created to be a condemnation of consumerism. There were certain scenes in the 1978 one where zombies, after making it into the mall, walk around while muzak plays and look just like shoppers do normally. The 2004 one has a montage of the survivors using all of the products in the mall in rapid-fire succession, fully enjoying the fruits of other people's labors.

My question is this: If consumerism is supposed to be so bad, how come the folks in the mall are the ones with the better chance of survival? Being in the mall gives them access to weapons (the gun store is in the mall in the 1978 one, and across the parking lot in the 2004 one), enough food to survive for extended periods of time, and some degree of safety against the emerging horde. If these people didn't have the mall, they would be zombies by five minutes into the movie...so doesn't that mean consumerism is a good thing?