ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we take a marketing perspective on the topic of advertising in the context of population diversity. In an interdisciplinary context such as we have in this volume, it is useful to reflect on the nature of the characteristic contribution from each discipline. What is a reader to assume upon learning that the topic, advertising and population diversity, is to be considered from a marketing perspective? What is the nature of the uniquely marketing contribution to the topic of diversity? Addressing that question, we consider how diversity arises in the context of the tasks that are marketing’s responsibility. In the first of two major sections in this chapter, we outline essential components of a marketing analysis, that is, the marketer’s tasks of strategic development and communication. In the second, we consider such tasks in the context of population diversity. Moreover, in that second section, we make a distinction between population diversity viewed from the perspectives of a marketing analysis (i.e., in light of return on investment) and of social justice. First, however, in the immediately following section, we comment on the nature of diversity itself to clarify the counterpoint between population diversity and market diversity, which is central to the chapter.
