The Need to Reconsider Societal Marketing

Marketers have every right to be proud of their field and the contribution they have made to raising standards of living around the world. Yet, despite encouraging the development of beneficial products and services globally, marketing has increasingly become the target of criticism, largely due to the assumptions of the marketing concept. This philosophy advocates satisfying customer needs for profit and has remained dominant for over half a century. Critics question whether this orientation, with a lack of consideration of marketing’s social impacts, is in the best interests of consumers or society in the longer-term. This chapter begins by arguing that the business environment has fundamentally changed since the emergence of the marketing concept as the dominant marketing paradigm. There is a far greater awareness and sensitivity to social and environmental issues. The Societal Marketing Concept (SMC), despite being developed at least 40 years ago, is advocated as being more able to meet both business and social objectives for the long-term. The SMC extends marketing considerations beyond company profits and consumer wants, to include society’s interests. An examination of the history of the SMC reveals that the concept has had little impact on marketing literature or practice because of criticisms that have also been apparent, but largely dealt with, in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature. The chapter concludes by examining the CSR journey to address the criticisms of the SMC and thereby provide direction on how the SMC can be advanced.