Question

1) Review the critics claims that marketing creates false desires and too much materialism. few social goods, a lot of communication and too much political power. Do you agree or disagree with these critics?

Answer 1

In order to agree or disagree with the critics, let us first analyze the pros and cons of marketing in general:

Pros of marketing:

• Supports the selling activity by help push the sales of the product.
• Facilitates the creation of favorable picture of the product or the service on the minds of the consumers.
• Helps in spreading awareness of the introduction of a new product in the market.
• Aids in surviving in the midst of intense competition in an industry.
• Improves the goodwill and image of the Company by responsibly marketing the products offered by such a Company.

Cons of marketing:

• Marketing activity may tend to resort to unethical practices of selling the product to the consumers.
• There is often only a thin line of difference between False or Deceptive advertisements and Puffery. Therefore, when the line of difference is not well understood, it may invite a lot of trouble, especially in terms of lawsuits, to the Advertisers. This is more often true in case of small businesses.
• Strong marketing techniques by the competitors may impact the sales of the genuine products offered by some other Company negatively if the consumers are carried away by such marketing gimmicks.
• Marketing activity is often more expensive than mere selling activity independently but resorting to the same is also quite essential to boost the sales. Hence it is a double-edged sword.
• It has a lot of complexities in the picture owing to the varied options of media available for marketing and the ever-changing preferences of the consumers in today’s era. While some may prefer social media platform, some other may go for the traditional forms. Understanding these tastes is essential before deciding upon the media.

Accordingly, while I do agree that a lot communication is a part of marketing but I believe that is genuinely required to reach out to the audience base. Political power though plays a role, there is still a monitoring of it owing to the ethical side of marketing. Business as an activity is always undertaken with the motive of profit. Hence, professionally, it is absolutely fair for any Business to go for all such activities that can help achieve ‘Profits’ in a desired way, keeping at all times, the essence of ‘Ethics’ on mind.

In today’s era, Boatright’s approach is highly practical and the only way to survive in the intense competition. Unlike Friedman, he believes that the cost of social responsibility is not only related to the owner’s but also with all other stakeholders. However, shareholders channelize their funds to the business hence they need to be prioritized for the cost of decision making. In this regard, Boatright’s stockholder model attempts to do justice with both, managers and the shareholders and hence his theory is more acceptable and feasible.

When the Business centers in to the ‘Social purpose’ as its core area of accomplishments, then the Company attempts in creation of social value in order to achieve its Business goals. This is the virtuous cycle of Social Responsibility. Therefore, social goods are also produced to stay competitive in the market.

Marketing does not always relate to false desires but facilitates the stimulation of a demand via its promotional activities. Moreover, Marketing today, also goes beyond the role of mere ‘Customer Service’. Marketing works upon the area of ‘customer satisfaction’ more than that of ‘customer service’. Customer satisfaction is a tool to measure how products or services supplied by a company meet or surpass a customer's expectation. With the increase in customer satisfaction, there is lead to better earnings as these customers become more loyal towards the Organization's product and in most cases, also refer to others to avail the same. Hence, this tool is concentrated more upon in an Organization in order to avail a competitive edge in the market.

Hence I disagree with the criticism considerably.