ABSTRACT

Critical marketing implies that the institution of marketing itself is to be critiqued, most likely through the tools provided by critical theory. Yet those who hold such expectations may be disappointed to learn that critical marketing can remain in the service of marketing practitioners and seems to refer to theoretical and methodological pluralism rather than to a Marxian informed critique. To address this issue, we submit that it is timely to remember the potential benefits of the previously overlooked critical theory for critical marketing. In this chapter we explore these issues, taking a timely review of critical marketing literature, and in particular three landmark publications (Brown et al., 1996; Brownlie et al., 1999; Firat et al., 1987). In doing so, we problematize the assumptions underlying the evolution of critical marketing and demonstrate how a more critical theory engaged critical marketing might be realized.