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Ethics in marketing
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These days marketing is seen in a negative light; for some critics, it is connected with a hedonistic lifestyle. Hedonism is a moral framework that assesses the quest for delight as the most important thing. This paper underlines association between the consumer society, hedonism, and the ribbon of marketing being mindful or not for exploitative conduct among consumers. This paper examines the claim that the present consumer society is hedonistic, due to a great extent of modern day marketing. A consumer society is characterised as one coordinated generally by the gathering and utilisation of material goods. In any case, hedonism is viewed as the appealing element of Western society to some extent. For example, “doing one's own particular …show more content…
Hedonism, is typically regarded as a form of egoism where pleasure is the only thing considered good. With regard to consumers, no serious attempt is made to determine the full consequences of action but are rather they assumed to only ask: “Does it feel good?” This is narrow hedonism, which is considered the trait of the present consumer society. Thus, (Bourdieu) views fun ethic as being the norm in modern society due to the ethic of hard work being replaced by narrow hedonism; searching for delight with the verifiable thought of overabundance. Due to marketers exploiting this trend by focusing on selling through emotive words and images instead of product substance. Critics of the consumer society consider hedonism to be a part consumer society as it is viewed as a driver for pleasure-seeking, and the concept of its absorbing nature is contained in criticisms of consumerism. Hedonism is not considered on the same level as addiction but above an ideology that exploits consumers, even though they may recognise the …show more content…
There are similarities in the development of both consumerism and marketing, yet the studies cannot provide an affirm confirmation. However, neither is their clean enough evidence to be disprove. When choosing the marketing strategy an organization needs to recognize that the essential point of marketing is building profitable relationships with the target consumer, however, the organisation has numerous choices in planning their marketing strategy. A considerable number of corporations in the world define marketing as knowing the requirements/needs of the target market and convey through a different medium the idea that their product fulfils the consumer’s need better than the competition. In light of the theory which suggests that there are significant resemblances in the ascent of the hedonistic consumer and sophistication in the power of marketing efforts, the moral advertisers would be advised to move towards the societal marketing concept, a concept that recommends the marketing strategy to convey value in a way that it works in the favour of both the consumer and the society. If executed correctly this strategy could reap long-term profits by protecting both the society and the consumer inside a framework designed purely for this
There are many people who are driven by consumerism and many people who wish they can get in touch with that type of world. Consumers are often promoted to advertise more of the products that they are buying to get more people to buy more products. Hari Kunzru, author of “Raj, Bohemian,” creates a narrator who is obsessed with maintaining his individuality and free will in a world that is overcome with consumerism. Believes that the world takes away individuality when consumerism comes into play and how hard it is to maintain their true self. In her LA Times article “Teen Haulers Create a Fashion Force,” Andrea Chang writes about the phenomenon of teenage Youtube users who make videos that publicize their latest shopping binges. She expresses
Consumerism is the idea that influences people to purchase items in great amounts. Consumerism makes trying to live the life of a “perfect American” rather difficult. It interferes with society by replacing the normal necessities for life with the desire for things with not much concern for the true value of the desired object. Children are always easily influenced by what they watch on television. Swimme suggests in his work “How Do Kids Get So Caught Up in Consumerism” that although an advertiser’s objective is to make money, the younger generation is being manipulated when seeing these advertisements. Before getting a good understanding of a religion, a child will have seen and absorbed at least 30,000 advertisements. The amount of time teenagers spend in high school is lesser than the amount of advertisement that they have seen (155). The huge amount of advertisements exposed to the younger generation is becomi...
Throughout history the connection between consumption and capitalism has played an integral part towards social changes that have occurred. As society changed so did the theories used to explain why these changes seemed the way they were. The sociology of Consumption has been rooted within sociological theory since its earliest days for example from Karl Marx’s ideas of utilisation of use-values (Marx, Engels and Arthur, 1972). However even within in these roots the influx of research only began to occur within last few decades. The sociology of consumption provides another route in which theorists can study society. As Marshall (1998) believed that sociology theory had for a long time been eclipsed by theories such as alienation and social class to name a few that are constantly being used to explain the basics of the social order and conflict with it. Although consumption has grown within the last few decided it’s not an easy term to define as there is not a standardised definition as many people believe when talking about consumption they already understand what is meant by the world. However it’s more likely they understand the word in terms of what it means to “consume” as the majority of society consumes on a daily basis.
It has been known that all ethical consumerism practises have actually gained an increased supremacy over the last couple of years. Consumers have found that the tendency to inform their customers of the ethical consumerism plays a rather vital part as this results in informed purchase decisions through references to ethical as well as moral principles. (The Guardian, 2014).
Mill’s qualitative hedonism of pleasures faces problems because of its lack of clarity in its description of pleasures, mainly because it seems that his idea of pleasure seems to encompass such a wide range of mental states. He also loses credibility with his controversial competent judges, and especially the inconsistency with a more textbook view of hedonism.
Hedonism is a way of life that is rooted in a person’s experiences or states of consciousness that can be pleasant or unpleasant. The ethical egoist would state that a person should maximize his or her pleasant states of consciousness in order to lead the best life. Act Utilitarian on the other hand would state that these enjoyable states of consciousness should be maximized by one’s actions for everyone in order to attain the most utility. On the surface, this appears to be a good way to live, however, as Nozick states through his example of the experience machine that living life as a hedonist can be detrimental. It is a hollow existence that will ultimately be unsatisfactory because of the lack of making real decisions and relationships which are important to living a fulfilling life.
Marketing is a system of business activates designed to plan, price, promote and distribute want-satisfying products, services and ideas to customers in order to achieve business objectives. Consumer law protects consumer’s rights in the marketplace as well as fair trading, competition and accurate information. On the other hand, ethical aspects of marketing are about making marketing decisions that are morally right. However, consumer law and ethical aspects of marketing have a lot of advantages and disadvantages in the marketplace, which impacts business 's sales and growth like it happened to: Harvey Norman, Nurofen, apple, etc.
This essay will try to give my opinion on whether marketing is evil or good. The essay will also try to address some of the good consequences and the bad ones of marketing. I have also tried to further explain the effects these consequences have on the society. I have also tried to tackle issues such as ethics of marketing and social well being and values.
Illich introduces the idea of living in a culture of conviviality versus consumerism, where certain tools and structures i.e. rational tools, which is anything that humans create, contribute to consumerism. Before the idea of conviviality can be understood, the culture and concept and consequences of consumerism must be acknowledged. William T. Cavanaugh addresses consumer culture as not a culture of traditional greed in but as a culture of detachment. This detachment comes from an obsession with efficiency. This detachment breeds apathy and detachment from the producers, the means of production, and the products themselves.
"In today’s consumer society, "I am what I have" is the active classification of itself. Consumerism is often viewed as a negative aspect towards society’s lives and purchasing behaviors, which predictably leads to materialism. If one steps back and look at the positive aspect that consumerism has been a certain positive characteristics in today’s society. Consumerism creates mass market, cultural attitudes and economic development.
When exploring consumerism it’s important to remember that people in today’s modern society can easily get caught up in consumer debt, which can cause much strife in people’s lives. People have a tendency to want their merchandise now, rather than waiting until they can afford it Wonderful post! Overall, consumerism is a mark of a capitalistic society but that does not mean that it represents healthy behavior. The desire for consumables is not necessarily a bad thing, but it can breed an addiction that is never quenched. Again, good post!
Weijers, Dan. "Hedonism." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. N.p., 8 Aug. 2011. Web. 29 Nov. 2013. .
Commodity fetishism refers to the Marxian concept of the decontextualization and mystification of the social relations of production in the process of commodification. In consumer culture this concept often highlights the characteristics of advertising brand discourse which tend to overlook the production of commodities especially in large scale productions. They ignore the social and environmental cost and instead focus on creating additional meanings and symbolic agency around brands. In this paper, I would like to analyze commodity fetishism by taking into account the Marxists theory of commodity fetishism and the notion that commodity culture is intricately related with the idea that we construct our identities through our consumption
The marketing revolution promises a golden age when social institutions and markets are systematically organized to maximize human happiness. One of marketing’s strongest features is its empiricism. What science does for perception, marketing does for production. It tests intuition and insight against empirical facts. Henry Ford thought he knew what people wanted from a car: cheap, reliable, and black.
Within the last one-hundred years consumerism has changed drastically. Attributed to the advent of advertising and product branding, modern day consumerism has shifted from being primarily “need” based, to being “want-to-need” based throughout the western world. Luxuries like shoes, clothes and home electronics aren’t even thought of as luxuries anymore, but they have made their way over to the list of thing we “need” or “must have”. Reflecting back on the various essays we have read for class, has really made me evaluate what type of consumer I am and has definitely made me more aware of the trends that I follow.