Societal Marketing Concept

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Individual Project 1
1. Given the trend in obesity among American consumers, which industries stand to benefit the most? Why?
Given the obesity issues in the American consumers, the food industry has benefited from this trend. Under the Societal Marketing Concept organizations have to balance company profits, customers’ wants and the society's interests. The problem is to determine what is best for the society in this case. Because there is a difference between short term consumers’ wants and long term consumers’ welfare (Brown, 2005).
This issue can be very hard to handle, because it is not all companies market with a social conscience. In one hand consumers say they want healthier foods, but in the other hand, their behavior focus towards unhealthy foods. Some companies may have initiated sincere efforts to provide healthier products; however, it is complicated to modify the consumer’s behavior in this regards (Knowledge@Wharton, 2005). As indicated by The Soy Daily (2003) over recent years rates of obesity have escalated rapidly, increasing consumption of diets high in fats and sugars, and declining levels of physical activity. This behavior generates a marketing opportunity to the food industry, which benefits them due to the heavily supported marketing campaigns the do to attract consumers (Leatherhad Food International, 2004).
Even though some organizations such as Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) announced its intentions to enforce a new level of advertising to good nutritional practices and even asked a big company like Burger King to aggressively promote healthier alternative, this efforts are not enough (Commercial Free Childhood, 2005). These policies or guidelines contradict the interests of an industry that encourages people to eat more. If people really ate less, food producers, retailers and fast-food among others, would lose business. Even schools can be affected on the income they receive from companies marketing fast foods and soft drinks. That is why food companies take full advantage of their connections in Congress and federal agencies to make sure that anti-obesity campaigns focus on individual food choices, not food marketing practices (Nestle, 2000).
2. How would you use the information on which Americans trust for marketing purposes?
These data provided by the s...

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...rce Lays Responsibility on Food Industry For A Major Transformation in Diet. Retrieved on March 21, 2005 from: http://thesoydailyclub.com/Research/obesity08292003.asp
Knowledge@Wharton (February 23, 2005). Marketing & Obesity. Retrieved on March 21, 2005 from: http://www.the-river.net/2005/02/marketing_obesi.html
Leatherhad Food International (June 2004). Emerging Concepts in the Global Food & Drink Industry. Retrieved on March 21, 2005 from: http://www.lfra.co.uk/lfi/pdf/press820.pdf
Commercial Free Childhood (March 15, 2005). Food Advertising Pushed Into Harsh Spotlight. Retrieved on March 21, 2005 from: http://www.commercialexploitation.org/news/articles/carustiffensguidelines.htm
Nestle, M. (June 22, 2000). Fight on Obesity Faces Hefty Commercial Problems. Retrieved on March 21, 2005 from: http://www.commercialalert.org/obesitynestle.htm
Neitlich, A. (November 21, 2003). A Revolutionary Marketing Strategy...Trust Me. Retrieved on March 21, 2005 from: http://www.sitepoint.com/article/marketing-strategy-trust
Joyce, M. & Stewart, J (August 1999). What can we learn from time-use data? Retrieved on March 22, 2005 from: http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1999/08/art1full.pdf

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