Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Dr Stephen Dann
ABSTRACT
If Kotler is widely seen as the father of marketing, then Theodor Geisel (aka Dr Seuss)
should be proud to be marketing's funny uncle. Between 1950 and 1965, Dr Seuss
and product over complication. This paper sets out to recognise the role and value of
the texts of Geisel, in light of post modern marketing theory and practice. The paper
takes a historical perspective of how Geisel's works of the 1950s and 1960s integrated
many of contemporary marketing's theories and practices, and how post modernist
marketing can benefit from the insights of this unheralded scholar. It also quotes
extensively from "Green Eggs and Ham", "Cat in the Hat" and recognises the
Keywords: Dr Seuss, Green Eggs and Ham, Sneetches on the Beaches, Post Modern
This paper sets out to uncover the Seuss, the whole Seuss and nothing but the Seuss (so
help me Kotler). When it was first drafted, the true nature was concealed behind a
veneer of post modern marketing acceptability, largely to sidestep the first rejection
unknown marketing genius by the name of Theodor Geisel (Theodor, for those not
versed in literary history, is none other than Dr Seuss). Hidden behind the carefully
worded opening page was a series of case studies based on the analysis of Dr Suess's
children's classics such as "The Cat in the Hat" as being marketing texts. At the time of
the review, the first reviewer managed to make it to halfway down the second page
before discovering the charade (the marks and suggestions on the manuscript stopped
dead just at the mention of the lost lessons of Dr Seuss). The second reviewer simply
drew a new box on the conference form, labelled it "Reject Outright" and ticked it.
However, the paper was spared by the first reviewer selecting the "Accept with
fundamental revisions" box which was conference speak for "Shred the evidence and try
again". I removed the managerial article (Goodbye Mr Yertyle), and the paper was
accepted into the conference. The message was quite clear - as long as I publicly
declared I was trying to pass off children's books as marketing texts, the work was an
acceptable marketing study. So, with that in mind, and mindful of Piercy (2002) and
the directive for research to be relevant to teaching, industry and society, this paper is
presented on the basis that "two out of three ain't bad". "Green Eggs and Marketing
Plans" has been taught to students studying Advertising and Promotion and those taking
several university marketing departments (perhaps accompanied with the note "Don't
hire this guy"). Indeed, it may also have qualified for Piercy's (2002) dreaded REA
funding arrangements (since it did qualify for research funding in its native country).
not to explode from laughter, and baffled looks from onlookers. Above all, it cherished
The work of Dr Seuss spanned several decades, with the publication of a range of
children's books which acted both as literary training, and introduction to marketing
texts. At the time, their value as marketing texts was unrecognised by industry and
academia. This shouldn't come as a surprise, given that, for the most part, the texts
marketing itself is often on the receiving end of such criticisms, and accused of being
merely applied commonsense instead of being a scientific discipline. But what if the
reason the methods of marketing seem so commonplace and "obvious" is because they
The 'brandwidth' of the Dr Seuss franchise rivals Disney for instant recognition and
phenomenon when compared to the reach of Dr Suess. This is reflected in the fact that
Seuss's children's books contain lessons on advertising and promotion (Sneetches on the
Beaches, Green Eggs and Ham), service recovery (The Cat in the Hat), and the dangers
of product over complication (Fox in Socks). In comparison, it usually takes until the
first (or even second) year of university until people first encounter Kotler. And for
those willing to venture into Suess's management texts, he has also published a
compendium of cases on management theory titled "Yertle the Turtle and other stories",
outlining case studies on the neglect of front line service staff (Yertle the Turtle), the
dangers of over expansion (Gertrude McFuzz) and the dangers of pretentious behaviour
Dr Seuss had had previous success as a political cartoonist and documentary maker,
even if the role his children's books as marketing text was unrecognised. The
twofold. First, it demonstrates the writer was well versed in contemporary society and
social theories, and had an awareness of political and social situations. Second, although
apparently drawing a long bow, it demonstrates that the author had the capacity to be
synthesising the "common sense" aspects of marketing from the social context around
him. What is no longer claimed by this paper (since I no longer need to hide the nature
of the work) is that Geisel created these concepts. Instead, I argue the reverse
proposition that the nature of marketing as a ubiquitous social force has been reflected
in the Seuss theory. The following section examines three classic Dr Seuss titles, "The
Cat in the Hat", "Green Eggs and Ham" and "The Sneetches on the Beaches", "Yertle
the Turtle and other stories" and "The Lorax" to demonstrate the inherent marketing
Service failure and Service recovery - The Cat in the Hat Home Entertainment
One of the more famous of the Dr Seuss collected works is the paired books of "The Cat
in the Hat" and "The Cat in the Hat Returns". These two books profiled the endeavours
of the Cat in the Hat home entertainment service, which can be seen to parallel a case
examples of service failure and service recovery. The Cat in the Hat offered a home
delivery service, with a range of services and products with an over emphasis placed on
tricks portfolio. The service employee, the Cat in the Hat, although never clearly stated,
appeared to be a franchise owner. The Cat was equipped with a corporate uniform
consisting of a red and white elongated hat, red bow tie, white gloves and an umbrella -
Products and services offered by the Cat were predominantly based on increasing the
entertainment service incorporated the initial Up-up-up with a fish, and added holding
up a cup, milk, cake, books, fish (on a rake), toy ship, toy man, red fan, whilst engaged
in fanning (with the red fan) and hopping on a ball. With the over complication of the
service task, resulting quite possibly from a lack of clear service script, service
breakdown occurred (Swan and Bowers, 1998). Complaining behaviour to the service
provider (from fish to Cat) resulted in a second service offering from the cat, despite
objections from the clients. Zeithaml and Bitner (2000) outline the typical response
provider, as was the case with the fish. This gave Cat in the Hat a service recovery
opportunity, which in this instance was replaced with the production orientation belief
The error on the Cat's behalf was not to take the complaining behaviour of the client
seriously, believing that the complaint from one, and silence from the other two clients
equated tacit support. Zeithaml also outlines passive complaining behaviour, where the
customer does not complain directly, but refuses to reuse the service. The Cat also
compounded the service failure with a second service failure, this time involving two
"Things" (Thing 1 and Thing 2) who were employees of the Cat in a Hat. Following the
second, and more serious service failure, the clients were left in a difficult situation
where damages had been incurred, and senior supervisor of the clients (their mother),
cat:
resulted in the service provider, and his staff, departing from the premises, leaving the
damages behind. Damages from the service encounter where initially estimated as
It was at this point, that the Cat in the Hat offered a service recovery solution. Service
recovery can take many forms, all of which rely on quick action, outcome, procedural
and interactional fairness. In this scenario, the Cat returned to repair the damages
caused by his two previous service offerings. Reinforcement of the Cat in a Hat product
experience was integrated into the service recovery, increasing the consumer
the Cat repairing the damage done. Procedural fairness, which was lacking in the first
service recovery attempt, was evident by a timely handling of the situation, resolving
the problem before Mother's return home. Cat in the Hat was clearly empowered to
make service recovery decisions without reference to senior management, and was able
to make a timely recovery (Swan and Bowers, 1998). Interaction fairness was displayed
by the Cat's handling of the mess identified by the clients as the negative outcome of the
service failure. Geisel (1957) makes an interesting use of branding in service recovery
by the Cat's continued reference to his service recovery behaviour as being part of the
And so…
Swift recovery of the negative situation, and addressing a solution to the needs created
by the initial service failures allowed the Cat to prevent future complaining behaviours
and redeem the Cat in a Hat brand name. Although the clients were unlikely to
recommend the company to their supervisor (Mother), they were not left out of pocket
by the service failures. (See also Geisel (1958) "The Cat in the Hat Comes Back" for
further examples of the Cat's role in service recovery in the home cleaning industry)
Perhaps the most ambitious work of Geisel's extensive career was Green Eggs and Ham,
which was based around only 50 different words. The stated purpose of the text was to
teach young readers the 50 most important words by use of forced repetition. However,
Dr Seuss also inadvertently teaches a basic set of innovation adoption and promotional
theories. "Green Eggs and Ham" were promoted as a new product by Sam-I-am, who
used personal selling techniques combined with free product trial. Sam-I-am bases the
initial approach with a teaser campaign, (as recommended by Stell and Paden (1999), to
entice new use of the product) From the initial product rejection, the teaser campaign
meet market needs). Continual rejection of the product by the target market was met
Peer pressure, and the demonstration of peer adoption of the product was also used
(Belch and Belch, 1997). Social comparison information, particularly that of social
pressure concerning product adoption was employed in an attempt to use peer pressure
for adoption compliance to the marketing message (Bearden and Rose, 1990). In
addition, the marketing message had become overly complicated (for further examples
of the dangers of message complication, see Geisel (1965) "Fox in Socks"). It is noted
at this point that awareness of the product remained high, as did unprompted recall by
the consumer. This is evidenced by the rejection message which outlines the full list of
comparative offerings as to where the customer may like green eggs and ham.
Whilst awareness remains high, the product is still untried by the client. Dr Seuss may
have been writing a scenario for teaching the use of fifty words, yet he was also
demonstrated that awareness without adoption fails to achieve the objective of the
organisation (Kelley, Hoffman and Carter, 1999). This was to become one of the most
common complaints levelled at advertising in the late 1990s - it could create awareness
but could it translate that awareness into adoption? (Aitchison and French-Blake, 1999).
In the green eggs scenario, Dr Seuss demonstrates that integrating the promotional
message of trial adoption with a free sample in a low pressure environment, provides a
So you say
Trial adoption in this case was specified with the soft sell parameter in that trial
adoption was contingent on the Bagozzi (1975) exchange parameter of freedom to leave
the exchange being satisfied. After a positive post trial evaluation, green eggs and ham
were adopted. Green eggs and ham illustrates the need for an emphasis on trial adoption
ahead of brand recognition, and peer pressure, and illustrates the importance of
consumer empowerment. Once the consumer felt they had been empowered to reject
the offer with no negative consequences, they were willing to engage in trial adoption.
Until this point of empowerment, they had resisted trial adoption based on their
Long before Nike invested millions into creating a tick logo known and recognised
around the world as the "swoosh", Dr Seuss had written a classic story on the social
impact of branding, and the meanings that can be attached to promotional imagery. "The
Sneetches" outlined the social identification role played by the five pointed green
Sneetch belly star, which authors such as McCracken (1989) would later formally
recognise as the role of symbolic meaning. Dr Seuss, writing not long after the
documentary film maker, recognised the significance of the power of logos as being
The basis of status was associated with the endorsement given by the presence of the
Sylvester McMonkey McBean, and his Fix-it-Up services which offered both star
insertion and removal, the value of the star was based on economic scarcity. The
functionality of the star as a class identifying marker was dependent on the lower social
groups not having access to it. When faced with a situation where star bellied
Sneetches from the original group could no longer rely on the star as an identifying
marker, they were forced to adopt a star-free policy as an identifier. Message confusion
ensued as both star removal and star addition services were freely available, breaking
down the scarcity of the image symbol, and allowing free access to both symbols for
both class groups. The end result was the degradation of the message associated with
the image symbol, which, incidentally broke down the Sneetch class system (for better
or worse). Stars lost their market value as social identifiers once they had become too
common a commodity in the Sneetch market. The need for exclusivity of image
message was recognised by Dr Seuss long before Nike and Harley Davidson had
invested heavily in branding, message identification and message targeting (see also Dr
Seuss "Too Many Daves" on the importance of distinctive branding when dealing with
Yertle the Turtle: Strategic Marketing, Service Staff and Planned Expansion
The role and importance of frontline staff of the organisation was recognised by Seuss's
short case study entitled "Yertle the Turtle", which was published in a compendium
volume "Yertle the Turtle and other stories" in 1965. The protagonist of the case study,
a turtle king named Yertle, had defined his market share based on vision.
Having decided to expand his share of the market, Yertle employed a nine stack of
turtles to form a larger throne, increasing his visual field to a mile. However, at the early
problems for the staff at the bottom of the organisation. Front line staff recorded
complaints about the workload placed on their shoulders and back, and inquiries were
made as to the duration of the expansion plans. Geisel (1965) notes at this point that the
Viljoen and Dann (2000) point out the need for less hierarchical structures, and the
disadvantages of believing that certain levels of employees should be excluded from the
decision making processes. Zeithaml and Bitner (2000) also extol the value of
integrating the employee into the company vision, arguing that integration leads to
higher motivation and greater desire to be part of the overall structure. Yertle's
hierarchical top down management structure, whilst only eight turtles removed from the
frontline, already exhibited a dislocation from the needs of the frontline employees.
Further, the failure to incorporate the frontline staff into the corporate vision led to
reduced morale. Yertle's continued expansion of his visual domain extended to forty
miles, using a turtle throne estimated to be approximately 2000 turtles (Figures are
inexact due to the loss of some records). Again, front line counter staff reported
The staff request for greater frontline empowerment, and equal load sharing was met
The expansion of the organisational structure, now several thousand turtles removed
from the frontline, had led Yertle to believe that management by decree was the only
viable management structure. The opinions of the longer term employees at the bottom
of the structure were ignored, including those of people who could recognise problems
structure, Yertle believed a further expansion of his market share would compensate for
the internal corporate problems. In addition, Yertle had shifted the basic goal of the
organisation from seeing as far as he could see to being the highest object in the
environment. Goal shift resulted from an over emphasis on market expansion ahead of
satisfying organisational goals, and looking after staff. Frontline employees (such as
Mack) were left to support an organisation which was no longer responsive to their
needs, disempowered them, and failed to incorporate their needs into the longer term
vision of the organisation. When a minor hiccup (or in this case, burp) occurred in the
He burped!
The fundamental lessons for marketing concerning the need for carefully planned
expansion, incorporation of service staff into corporate vision and the need for strong
corporate structures were reinforced by Geisel (1965) in the second case "Gertrude
McFuzz". The McFuzz case outlines the situation where unnecessary expansion to
defeat a perceived competitor led to the downfall of the organisation. McFuzz, trying to
impractical 90 pounds. In the McFuzz case, a rescue package was organised through a
range of assistance from family and creditors, including a massive scaling back of the
tail feather activities. Again, as with Yertle, the emphasis on the case was the dangers
The Lorax: Sustainable Enterprises, Green Marketing, and Listening to the Critics
As a social commentator, Seuss was not averse to promoting controversial ideas through
his works, and was able to deliver numerous social messages alongside his covert
was the notion of "green marketing" or sustainable marketing, advocated in the 1971
text "The Lorax". Whilst most of green marketing appeared in the late 1990s, it should
be considered that the generations who have most readily adopted the green movements
have been those born after the publication of The Lorax. Sherry (2000) argues for
The text is remarkable for the insight it would later demonstrate into the hey-days of
Significantly, the text also indicated that the emphasis placed on the bottom line (the
singular bottom line) can often override the personal ethics of managers. As Lantos
(1999) laments, too often the personal morals of the business person are left at the front
door. Seuss (1971) also recognised this situation within The Lorax, where the Once-ler,
(representing industry) is watching the first wave of departures from the region (due to
loss of income, and reduced standards of living inflicted by the Once-ler production
lines)
BUT…
business is business!
There is, at this point, an unfortunate tendency for many managers and business leaders,
corporate longevity, their remuneration is tied to growth, and growth is seen as the only
(Stainer and Stainer, 1997), there are financial incentives for controlling growth rates to
a manageable level. However, as in the Lorax Case, many businesses simply follow the
Once-ler principle:
objective on growth at the expense of sustainability will have negative impacts on the
environment (three specific social groups leave the area where the Once-ler factories are
established). The success of the Thneed factory ends with the felling of the last Truffla
tree, which results in the factory closing (whilst the workers apparently move to a new
Whilst "The Lorax" is more depressing than the humour driven messages of "The Cat in
the Hat" or the fast rhythmic pace of "Green Eggs and Ham" it also advocates a clear
causes leading to changes in individual behaviours which ultimately, in the view of the
campaign’s originator, will result in socially beneficial outcomes (Dann 1996). Social
change is attained through individual changes in behaviours which shape group and
It's not."
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATION OF THE RESEARCH
Not for one moment do I want to claim that Theodor Geisel invented marketing. What
this paper sets out to demonstrate is that marketing exists beyond the 4 Ps, outside of
LISREL modelling and away from an obsessive focus on industry relevance. There are
no real implications for industry because this piece has been about marketing, and the
discipline of marketing.
This paper intentionally sets out to take a light hearted look at how marketing can be
found in contemporary cultures from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. The emphasis has
been on trying to demonstrate that much of marketing theory can be found in some of
the darnedest places in both contemporary and classic society. Whether industry can
learn from the lessons of Cat in the Hat, or advertising will heed the message
Marketing itself needs to be able to look at itself, if necessary laugh at itself, and
understand who and what it is, where it has come from, and how it has played a role in
needs to be a place for industry irrelevance. Post modern marketing may provide the
haven for marketing thoughts not directly relevant to the bottom line of industry. It may
also hold the key for discovering the next exchange theory through analysis of
marketing in contemporary culture and society. But above all, it may just happen to
find marketing hiding where no-one really expected it - classic children's literature.
Marketing is a social process, and the works of Dr Seuss are part of the socialisation
process of many children, who along with learning basic literacy, are picking up basic
marketing as an added bonus. The future of marketing may well depend on how many
children accept the marketing activities of a Cat in a Hat as being a normal part of
society, and how important the Sneetches stars were as social identifiers. Perhaps the
"I am Kotler
Kotler I am
.
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