Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Marketing

PART 1. The Role of Marketing: Theory, Practice, and Conceptual Conflict ISSUE 1. Does Marketing Have Appropriate Boundaries? YES: D. Kirk Davidson, from Selling Sin: The Marketing of Socially Unacceptable Products NO: Michael F. Jacobson and Laurie Ann Mazur, from Marketing Madness: A Survival Guide for a Consumer Society D. Kirk Davidson, an assistant professor of marketing, explores the development and ethical dimensions of applying marketing techniques to "sin products," such as tobacco, alcohol, pornography, and gambling. While he does not applaud these marketing efforts, he emphasizes the relevance of freedom of speech and the rights of consumer choice. Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, and Laurie Ann Mazur, a writer and consultant, consider the intrusiveness and pervasiveness of "hybrid advertising," such as the video news release (VNR), advertorial, and product placement in sitcoms and movies and conclude that these messages transcend the perceptual boundaries of traditional advertising. ISSUE 2. Is the Practice of Multilevel Marketing Legitimate? YES: Dale D. Buss, from "A Direct Route to Customers," Nation's Business NO: Stephen Barrett, from "The Mirage of Multilevel Marketing," Quackwatch, Writer Dale D. Buss depicts the booming growth of multilevel marketing (MLM) in various arenas. He outlines the techniques of one-to-one selling as well as the home party method. Buss also notes how the legitimate companies in the MLM industry take special care to distance themselves from phony operations. Retired psychiatrist Stephen Barrett argues that people who join in the later stages of an MLM operation will likely not do well. He discusses the example of health-related food supplements, where claims are subject to government intervention and public scrutiny as to their effectiveness. Barrett also examines questionable claims and people's motivations and methods of selling. ISSUE 3. Has the "Keep It Simple" Concept Become "All Change, All the Time"? YES: Regis McKenna, from Real Time: Preparing for the Age of the Never Satisfied Customer NO: Jack Trout with Steve Rivkin, from The Power of Simplicity: A Management Guide to Cutting Through the Nonsense and Doing Things Right Regis McKenna, chairperson of the McKenna Group, proclaims that the era of "adaptive" marketing has arrived--now driven by new technologies of communications and information. Keeping in close touch with ever-changing consumer needs is now the only constant for marketing managers, he concludes. Jack Trout, president of the marketing firm Trout & Partners, and Steve Rivkin, a faculty member of the Department of Economics at Amherst College, see an overcommunicated culture of clutter. They argue that simplicity and the "focused benefit" must be encoded into one integrated singular message and emphasize the importance of a consistent "value proposition" packaged into a simple message, which is memorably positioned in the minds of consumers and prospects in a creative way. ISSUE 4. Is Relationship Marketing a Tenable Concept? YES: Jennifer Bresnahan, from "Improving the Odds," CIO Enterprise Magazine NO: James R. Rosenfield, from "Whatever Happened to Relationship Marketing? Nine Big Mistakes," Direct Marketing Law student Jennifer Bresnahan describes the new era of information technology, which enables marketers to serve every consumer, one at a time, and develop long-term mutually beneficial relationships. James R. Rosenfield, chairperson and CEO of Rosenfield & Associates, maintains that relationships in marketing are not always like those between human beings; customers want more of a one-way street. He shares "nine big mistakes" that impede successful development of marketing relationships. PART 2. Strategic Planning and the Marketing Mix ISSUE 5. Does Cause-Related Marketing Benefit All Stakeholders? YES: Paul HoAbhijit Roy is the author of 'Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Marketing', published 2000 under ISBN 9780072384499 and ISBN 0072384492.