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Marketing and the Vulnerable

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  • Brenkert, George G.

Abstract

Contemporary marketing is commonly characterized by the marketing concept which enjoins marketers to determine the wants and needs of customers and then to try to satisfy them. This view is standardly developed, not surprisingly, in terms of normal or ordinary consumers. Much less frequently is attention given to the vulnerable customers whom marketers also (and increasingly) target. Though marketing to normal consumers raises many moral questions, marketing to the vulnerable also raises many moral questions which are deserving of greater attention.This paper has three objectives. First, it explores the notion of vulnerability which a target audience might (or might not) have. I argue that we must distinguish those who are specially vulnerable from normal individuals, as well as the susceptible and the disadvantaged - two other groups often distinguished in marketing literature. Second, I contend that marketing to the specially vulnerable requires that marketing campaigns be designed to ensure that these individuals are not treated unfairly, and thus possibly harmed. Third, I maintain that marketing programs which violate this preceding injunction are unethical or unscrupulous whether or not those targeted are harmed in some further manner. Accordingly, social control over marketing to the vulnerable cannot simply look to consumer injury as the measure of unfair treatment of the vulnerable.

Suggested Citation

  • Brenkert, George G., 1998. "Marketing and the Vulnerable," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(S1), pages 7-20, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:cup:buetqu:v:8:y:1998:i:s1:p:7-20_3
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    Cited by:

    1. Julia Rötzmeier-Keuper, 2020. "Consumer Vulnerability: Overview And Synthesis Of The Current State Of Knowledge And Future Service-Related Research Directions," Working Papers Dissertations 65, Paderborn University, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics.
    2. Wided Batat, 2010. "Understanding the Dimensions of Young Consumer Vulnerability in the Web 2.0 Society," Post-Print halshs-00527884, HAL.
    3. Edwards, Karen & Rosenbaum, Mark S. & Brosdahl, Deborah & Hughes, Patrick, 2018. "Designing retail spaces for inclusion," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 182-190.
    4. David Rowthorn, 2019. "Is Child Advertising Inherently Unfair?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(3), pages 603-615, September.
    5. Arnold, Denis G. & Valentin, Andres, 2013. "Corporate social responsibility at the base of the pyramid," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 1904-1914.
    6. James Angel & Douglas McCabe, 2015. "The Ethics of Payments: Paper, Plastic, or Bitcoin?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(3), pages 603-611, December.
    7. Meng, Jie & Layton, Roger & Huang, Yimin, 2016. "Why do some consumers shop in this pharmacy? A cross-check of vulnerable characteristics and store types," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 116-130.
    8. Monica C. LaBarge & Martin Pyle, 2020. "Staying in “the works of living”: How older adults employ marketplace resources to age successfully," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 742-774, June.
    9. David Palmer & Trevor Hedberg, 2013. "The Ethics of Marketing to Vulnerable Populations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(2), pages 403-413, August.
    10. Thompson, Alex & Stringfellow, Lindsay & Maclean, Mairi & Nazzal, Amal, 2021. "Ethical considerations and challenges for using digital ethnography to research vulnerable populations," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 676-683.
    11. Bérangère Brial & Evelyne Rousselet, 2017. "Sales force in front of their poor customers: the case of retail banking [Les comportements des vendeurs face à leurs clients en situation de pauvreté: le cas de la banque de détail]," Post-Print hal-01682321, HAL.
    12. Evelyne Rousselet & Bérangère Brial & Romain Cadario & Amina Béji-Bécheur, 2020. "Moral Intensity, Issue Characteristics, and Ethical Issue Recognition in Sales Situations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 163(2), pages 347-363, May.
    13. Kirsten Martin & Katie Shilton & Jeffery Smith, 2019. "Business and the Ethical Implications of Technology: Introduction to the Symposium," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 160(2), pages 307-317, December.

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