Marketing Essay Help!!?

[orangebag]

Why is it important for a marketer to have a good understanding of some of the impact marketing can have on our social values?

Needs to be 2000 words, dont know where to start!

I am also allowed to change the question as long it still focuses on the same topic!

Any ideas or ideas on how to change the question to make it slighly easier!

Thankyou

[Ingenious]

your course text and your unit outline would be a great place to start if you are studying at uni

try to get some theory into the essay

values have shown to be a driver in many buying decisions of customers; anything less in accordance with the values of the market can deter the success of the product or can even ruin the reputation of the company

pressure groups can create hassle

recently in the news, there was a law enforced on an Indian shop selling women's underwear; in Muslim culture, lingerie is seen as taboo and law was enforced in a way that the seller must keep the lingerie off display and only show it to customers when they request for it

a recent marketing poster put up in a part of India was ordered to be removed because of the sexual nature (the model was wearing underwear)

if pressure groups recieve enough lobbying power, pressure and action can be taken against the company even though the government see no need for intervention. at times, this political pressure is so strong, governments have done things against unethical due to the collective action of the people.

On a lighter note, if something coincide with a certain value, then prices could be raised at a premium and people would appreciate that.

Body shop products are made from organic material. If body shop's stuff wasn't advertised as being from ethical or sustainable sources, the products could have been seen as average and then is subject to the effects of price competition

Right on the other side of the coin (what your essay is about):
marketing can elicit values from people and reinforces new values of how people percieve things.

taking the body shop example, because there is an increasing use of organic products, people now see that sustainable sources and products with natural ingredients is more desirable. People step up and take the high horse. this aggregates people together

there is then an apparent increase in awareness of consumer effects and a change in our culture

as you can see, there are psychological implications to this

if violence and drugs were promoted on TV in a glamourous way, then (according to conventional psychological theory; Piaget 101) there would be an increase in violence and drugs in society because people thought it was 'cool' to do so.

You then get a whole host of ethical problems and implications held onto these issues

For instance, a politician said something about the publicisation of 'Wanted', a film starring Angelina Jolie, James McAvory and Morgan Freeman, and how it was glamourising guns and how it did not help to reduce gun crimes in the country.

Here, people do not object to this but in terms of ethics the government is stepping in. Opinions?

In the 90s, Kate Moss was dubbed as one of the hottest models out there and she became a hit sensation; a lot of girls out there wanted to be like her and as skinny as well. You don't need me to explain where that led to.

Here we see marketing as a driver of cultural change along with our social values

Another example: during the 40s-50s (I think), there was a rise in yellow journalism (i.e. journalists making stuff up for their stories to make the front page news). It's big business and people like to read dirt about other people. If reading dirt about people is bad, should readers be given more of it despite the money marketers make?

Fashion is now a very dynamic industry and clothes line change like once a fortnight. It skews our perception and opinon of what is 'beauty' and how looks can be more important than what is inside (or the impacts show it in this sort of way). Being in trend has become somewhat a social currency for popularity in schools. Is this a good thing?

Quite a lot of young girls have started thinking of buying bras at the age of 9 and 10, even before they have reached puberty. Is this a good thing? Some girls make fun of those who haven't started to grow breasts yet due to media's portrayal of what is 'popular' and 'attractive'; is this a good thing?

In economic terms, business is business, nothing personal. Should businesses care about how they impact society? Is it more important to get ratings and more money? Are more ethical companies such as Virgin or Body Shop becoming more profitable than the standard company?

Would there be any point in understanding and considering the impact marketing has on our social values? Is marketing tapping into new markets that are not explored yet, but should these markets be exploited (e.g. violent films are a seller, but should they be sold to young children)?

I would recommend a few academic journal articles on the subject to give up to date info on the discusssion by professors and academics to get easy marks, but it also boost your marks if you use them well.

Hope this helps