Criticisms of Marketing

Many of the criticisms aimed supposedly at marketing are really meant for some of the excesses of hard selling-shifting the goods on to the consumer at all costs. However, there are still some criticisms which must be looked at more seriously:

The 'limited resources' critique which emphasizes that it will not prove possible in the long run to satisfy everyone's needs. Can everyone in the world be raised to the same level as the average American family?

Despite the professional approach adopted, some marketing activity is bound to misfire and attract justified criticisms. It is important to differentiate such critiques from unjustified criticisms of marketing as a whole;

Since marketing is concerned with satisfying customers' needs, there will always be the question whether it is right or desirable to satisfy those needs in the first place. Do we all need luxury or hard drugs?

Add to this the fact that one of the other important role of marketing is to anticipate customer requirements. This is bound to lead people accusing marketing activities as merely creating unnecessary needs and in the process causes people to buy things they could be perfectly happy without. During the 1970s and 1980s best-seller thinkers emerged advocating less consumption rather than more. Writers like Schumacher who in his book titles "Small is Beautiful" questioned the whole concept of constant large-scale development and he received positive reviews from many.

It is probably better to avoid this philosophical minefield and to concentrate on a rather narrower view. At the present time, most countries in the world have adopted economic systems that allocate resources mainly on the basis of a series of purchasing decisions made by individuals, followed by action taken by businesses to satisfy this 'created' demand. While some people are happy with this system and many others feel that it is not totally satisfactory, the majority still seems to support as the best system on offer. It facilitates the right price-quality mixes beneficial for both producers and consumers.

In addition, it facilitates economic growth which is an important prerequisite for national development in general generating more opportunities for the masses in terms of enterprises and jobs.

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