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Consumers and Social Well-Being

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR, 11e Michael R. SolomonCopyright © 2015 Pearson Education,
Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

2  Underlying assumption: Ethical business is good business.

3  Marketing Ethics and Public Policy

Business ethics are rules of conduct that guide actions in the marketplaceThere are
cultural differences in what is considered ethical.It can be difficult to avoid ethical
conflicts because our thoughts of what is right and wrong vary among people,
organizations, and cultures. These cultural differences certainly influence whether
business practices such as bribery are acceptable. Bribing foreigners to gain business
has been against the law in theUnited States since 1977, under the Foreign Corrupt
Practices Act. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), to
which most industrialized countries belong, also outlaws bribery. Still, these practices
are common in many countries.

4  Do Marketers Manipulate Consumers?

Advertisers simply do not know enough about people to manipulate them(some
argue)The failure rate for new products ranges from 40-80%. Although people may think
that advertisers use magic to sell products, marketers are only successful when they
promote good products.

5  Do Marketers Create Artificial Needs?

Objective of marketing: create awareness thatneeds exist, not to create
needsversusNeed: a basic biological motiveWant: one way that society has taught us
that the need can be satisfiedMarketing is commonly criticized as trying to convince
consumers that they need something when they really don’t. This is an ethical issue.
Marketers respond to this question by pointing out that the need already exists in the
consumer, but marketers recommend ways to satisfy the need.

6  Do Marketers Promise Miracles?

Do consumers “discount” ad claims?The failure rate for new products ranges from 40-
80%. Although people may think that advertisers use magic to sell products, marketers
are only successful when they promote good products.

7  Materialism: the importance people attach to worldly possessions

“The good life”...“He who dies with the most toys, wins”Materialists: value possessions
for their own status and appearance; buy just to haveNon-materialists: value
possessions that connect them to other people or provide them with pleasure in using
themOur possessions play a central role in our lives and our desire to accumulate them
shapes our value systems.A value that’s related to materialism is cosmopolitanism.
Researchers define a cosmopolitan as someone who tries to be open to the world and
who strives for diverse experiences.

8  Advertising & Materialism

Does advertising foster materialism?Products are designed to meet existing
needsAdvertising only helps to communicate their availabilityOther sources of
materialismIs materialism necessarily bad?Yes, we can say that advertising and
marketing are necessary because consumers may not know that solutions to problems
exist without the information provided by advertising and marketing. This is the view of
the economics of information perspective. It points out that there is an economic cost to
searching for information. Advertising helps consumers by reducing search time.

9  Old versus New Materialism

This table illustrates some differences in what materialism used to look like compared
to what it looks like today. Today’s materialistic consumers are more likely to focus on
values over status.

10  Adbusters and “Culture Jamming”

Adbusters sponsors many initiatives that try to discourage rampant commercialism. Its
work is a type of culture jamming, a strategy to disrupt efforts by the corporate world to
dominate our cultural landscape.

11  Transformative Consumer Research

TCR promotes research projects that help people or bring about social changeSocial
marketing strategies use marketing techniques to encourage positive behaviors such as
increased literacy and to discourage negative activities such as drunk driving

12  Data Privacy and Identity Theft

Identity theft occurs when someone steals your personal information and uses it
without your permission.Advances in technology to combat Identity TheftAre consumers
deterred by loss of privacy and identity theft fears?

13  Market AccessDisabilitiesImpoverished populationsAccess to reasonably priced

goods and RedliningFood desertsEqual protection under the law

14  Sustainability and Environmental Stewardship

Triple bottom-line orientationFinancial (profit)Social (people)Environmental (planet)

15  Conscientious Consumerism
Conscientious consumerism is a focus on personal health merging with a growing
interest in global healthLOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability)Middle/Upper-
Middle/Upper Class consumersConcerned about the environmentWant products to be
produced in a “sustainable” wayThe “Worried Well”One survey revealed that 8 in 10
consumers said they believe it’s important to buy green brands and products from
green companies. Analysts call this new value conscientious consumerism. A sizeable
number of people are interested in being more green. Marketers point to a segment
called LOHAS – an acronym for lifestyles of health and sustainability.

16  LOHASLOHAS is the term used to describe the groups of green consumers.

17  Carbon Footprint Breakdown

The carbon footprint measures, in units of carbon dioxide, the impact human activities
have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases they produce.
The average American is responsible for 9.44 tons of CO2 per year! As the figure shows,
a carbon footprint comes from the sum of two parts, the direct, or primary, footprint
and the indirect, or secondary, footprint:1) The primary footprint is a measure of our
direct emissions of CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels, including domestic energy
consumption and transportation (e.g., cars and planes).2 The secondary footprint is a
measure of the indirect CO2 emissions from the whole life cycle of products we use,
from their manufacture to their eventual breakdown.