{"id":7628,"date":"2015-12-11T15:25:42","date_gmt":"2015-12-11T20:25:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smartsignblog.com\/blog\/?p=7628"},"modified":"2017-03-22T07:08:11","modified_gmt":"2017-03-22T11:08:11","slug":"marketing-as-a-social-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/marketing-as-a-social-good\/","title":{"rendered":"Marketing as a social good"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marketing has been a cultural staple for the last century. Via print, television, radio, and, increasingly, online venues, corporations compete to capture our attention (and our dollars). The marketing industry enjoyed perhaps its biggest PR campaign ever with the highly popular AMC series Mad Men<\/em>, but the industry still carries a bad rap.<\/p>\n

\"Patagonia

Are marketing campaigns like Patagonia’s “Don’t Buy This Jacket” campaign social goods, or just greenwashing? Image from www.rentvine.com.<\/p><\/div>\n

Is marketing a social ill, or can it be a force for good? Verena E. Stoeckl and Marius K. Luedicke, researchers from the University of Innsbruck and City University London, respectively, set out to address these broad questions in a recent article<\/a>\u00a0in The Journal of Business Research<\/em>. Stoeckl and Luedicke write that marketing satisfies customer wants needs, thereby providing value for employees, corporations, and other stakeholders. But they also acknowledge the many who claim that marketing practices can \u201cproduce more problems for consumers and environments than they solve.\u201d<\/p>\n

As examples, Stoeckl and Luedicke point out that some corporations promote products that are harmful to consumer health, \u201chomogenize local communities,\u201d and\/or \u201cconceal natural and human resource exploitation practices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Consumers have historically demonstrated strong resistance to marketing practices that they see as harmful. Advancements in technology have provided consumers with increasingly potent platforms from which to declare their distaste and mistrust of marketing perceived as disruptive or harmful.<\/p>\n

For example, DVR technology allows consumers to skip through commercials they don\u2019t wish to view and streaming subscription services enable consumers to avoid commercials entirely. Online, consumers employ free ad blocking services to avoid seeing advertisements, and freely vent frustration about corporations and marketing campaigns in online forums.<\/p>\n

Corporations are acutely aware of backlash against marketing practices. One form of response comes via the rise of \u201cpositive marketing.\u201d In another article<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0The Journal of Business Research<\/em>, Ahir Gopaldas promotes a theory of \u201cpositive marketing.\u201d Gopaldas defines positive marketing as \u201cany marketing activity that creates value for the firm, its customers, and society.\u201d The \u201cand\u201d is critical here, because positive marketing hinges on being productive on all three fronts, not just for the firm. Gopaldas points out that positive marketing is marketing \u201cin its ideal form,\u201d and is not necessarily the norm. But is positive marketing a convenient fiction?<\/p>\n

Stoeckl and Luedicke also address positive marketing, describing it as a valid reaction to criticism and a response to \u201cemerging moral demands\u201d from consumers. Does that mean that positive marketing is just another gimmick? Not necessarily. Gopaldas cites the example of \u201cactivist executives\u201d who promote positive marketing not to satisfy external pressures and counteract criticism, but rather to \u201cexpress personal convictions.\u201d For instance, a CEO who feels strongly about combating deforestation might create a positive marketing campaign around the issue in order to align his or her personal, altruistic agenda with company marketing efforts.<\/p>\n

The problem, say Stoeckl and Luedicke, is that consumers have \u201clearned not to blindly trust marketers\u2019 promises,\u201d and \u201ctend to render even ostensibly positive marketing practices as purely instrumental for reaping profits.\u201d Thus, even well-intentioned positive marketing campaigns can be met with strong resistance.<\/p>\n

This doesn\u2019t mean marketers should abandon positive marketing efforts. Even those met with resistance spark a dialogue about morality and ethics in marketing, and engaging consumers in that dialogue is critical to evolving the marketing industry and <\/em>advancing the interests of corporations, consumers, and society at large. \u201cIn response to the accusation of marketing-induced human degeneration, marketers explore options for joining forces with critical consumers to advance a common socio-cultural agenda,\u201d write Stoeckl and Luedicke. In other words, if you can\u2019t beat \u2018em, join \u2018em. Outdoor apparel and gear company Patagonia memorably invited consumers to \u201cbuy less\u201d<\/a> and be more conscious about whether or not they truly need the things they acquire. This message is counterintuitive coming from a retailer, but it resonated with many critics of traditionally capitalistic marketing efforts, and the campaign \u201cgained significant media attention.\u201d<\/p>\n

So is marketing a social ill? The answer seems to be: it depends upon whom you ask. The emergence of positive marketing holds potential to align corporate, consumer, and societal interests, but it\u2019s not without complications. Gopaldas points out that \u201cpositive marketing efforts are unlikely to address the structural roots of societal problems because they can contradict the profit motives of corporations.\u201d He gives the example of PepsiCo responding to criticisms about plastic waste by cutting down on the amount of plastic<\/a> used to produce their water bottles, but failing to point out to consumers that drinking tap water instead of bottled water would solve the plastic water bottle issue altogether. After all, PepsiCo still needs to sell bottled water in order to make a profit.<\/p>\n

So there\u2019s room for improvement. Gopaldas wants to use \u201ccreative thinking\u201d and \u201cbig data\u201d to envision innovations in positive marketing that none of us have thought of yet. (Is Don Draper available?)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marketing has been a cultural staple for the last century. Via print, television, radio, and, increasingly, online venues, corporations compete to capture our attention (and our dollars). The marketing industry enjoyed perhaps its biggest PR campaign ever with the highly popular AMC series Mad Men, but the industry still carries a bad rap. Is marketing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"wpmdr_menu":1,"wpmdr_menu_extended":{"individualPostRemove":1,"individualPostRemoveDate":1,"individualPostRemoveAuthor":1,"individualPostYoastRemovePublished":1,"individualPostYoastRemoveModified":1},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nMarketing as a social good | SmartSign Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Marketing has been a cultural staple for the last century. Via print, television, radio, and, increasingly, online venues, corporations compete to capture\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/marketing-as-a-social-good\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Marketing as a social good | SmartSign Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Marketing has been a cultural staple for the last century. Via print, television, radio, and, increasingly, online venues, corporations compete to capture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/marketing-as-a-social-good\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SmartSign Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/SmartSign\/220245064667579\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-12-11T20:25:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-03-22T11:08:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/4959660085_11fd13ff1a.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ellen Hunter Gans\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SmartSign\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@SmartSign\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/marketing-as-a-social-good\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/marketing-as-a-social-good\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ellen Hunter Gans\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b1fbebc874b15eea717d9c9a83242df\"},\"headline\":\"Marketing as a social good\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-11T20:25:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-22T11:08:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/marketing-as-a-social-good\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":832,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/marketing-as-a-social-good\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/4959660085_11fd13ff1a.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/marketing-as-a-social-good\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/marketing-as-a-social-good\\\/\",\"name\":\"Marketing as a social good | SmartSign Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/marketing-as-a-social-good\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/marketing-as-a-social-good\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/4959660085_11fd13ff1a.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-11T20:25:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-22T11:08:11+00:00\",\"description\":\"Marketing has been a cultural staple for the last century. Via print, television, radio, and, increasingly, online venues, corporations compete to capture\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/marketing-as-a-social-good\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/marketing-as-a-social-good\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/marketing-as-a-social-good\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/4959660085_11fd13ff1a.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/4959660085_11fd13ff1a.jpg\",\"width\":500,\"height\":285,\"caption\":\"Are marketing campaigns like Patagonia's \\\"Don't Buy This Jacket\\\" campaign social goods, or just greenwashing? Image from www.rentvine.com.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/marketing-as-a-social-good\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Marketing as a social good\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"SmartSign Blog\",\"description\":\"Articles and resources on safety, security, and signs\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"SmartSign\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/smartsign-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/smartsign-logo.png\",\"width\":188,\"height\":55,\"caption\":\"SmartSign\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/pages\\\/SmartSign\\\/220245064667579\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/SmartSign\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.smartsign.com/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b1fbebc874b15eea717d9c9a83242df\",\"name\":\"Ellen Hunter Gans\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Marketing as a social good | SmartSign Blog","description":"Marketing has been a cultural staple for the last century. Via print, television, radio, and, increasingly, online venues, corporations compete to capture","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/marketing-as-a-social-good\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Marketing as a social good | SmartSign Blog","og_description":"Marketing has been a cultural staple for the last century. Via print, television, radio, and, increasingly, online venues, corporations compete to capture","og_url":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/marketing-as-a-social-good\/","og_site_name":"SmartSign Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/SmartSign\/220245064667579","article_published_time":"2015-12-11T20:25:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-03-22T11:08:11+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/4959660085_11fd13ff1a.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Ellen Hunter Gans","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@SmartSign","twitter_site":"@SmartSign","twitter_misc":{"Written by":false,"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/marketing-as-a-social-good\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/marketing-as-a-social-good\/"},"author":{"name":"Ellen Hunter Gans","@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7b1fbebc874b15eea717d9c9a83242df"},"headline":"Marketing as a social good","datePublished":"2015-12-11T20:25:42+00:00","dateModified":"2017-03-22T11:08:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/marketing-as-a-social-good\/"},"wordCount":832,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/marketing-as-a-social-good\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/4959660085_11fd13ff1a.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/marketing-as-a-social-good\/","url":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/marketing-as-a-social-good\/","name":"Marketing as a social good | SmartSign Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/marketing-as-a-social-good\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/marketing-as-a-social-good\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/4959660085_11fd13ff1a.jpg","datePublished":"2015-12-11T20:25:42+00:00","dateModified":"2017-03-22T11:08:11+00:00","description":"Marketing has been a cultural staple for the last century. Via print, television, radio, and, increasingly, online venues, corporations compete to capture","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/marketing-as-a-social-good\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/marketing-as-a-social-good\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/marketing-as-a-social-good\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/4959660085_11fd13ff1a.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/4959660085_11fd13ff1a.jpg","width":500,"height":285,"caption":"Are marketing campaigns like Patagonia's \"Don't Buy This Jacket\" campaign social goods, or just greenwashing? Image from www.rentvine.com."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/marketing-as-a-social-good\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Marketing as a social good"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/","name":"SmartSign Blog","description":"Articles and resources on safety, security, and signs","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/#organization","name":"SmartSign","url":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/smartsign-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/smartsign-logo.png","width":188,"height":55,"caption":"SmartSign"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/SmartSign\/220245064667579","https:\/\/x.com\/SmartSign"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7b1fbebc874b15eea717d9c9a83242df","name":"Ellen Hunter Gans"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7628\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}