ABSTRACT
The contradiction at the heart of commercial marketing – the profit motive disguised as consumer focus – is most apparent in big business. In the social marketing exchange process, the consumer in each of us can learn from the citizen, and the citizen can learn from the consumer. There is a growing evidence base to show that social marketing can influence multiple behaviours. Moving beyond the transgressions of individual industries, social marketing can and should contribute to the wider debate about the role and values of commercial marketing in a modern democracy. The soft drinks giant, along with its many commercial rivals, demonstrates the enormous potential power of marketing. The capacity to bring about behaviour change, then, is far too valuable to be limited to the marketplace; improve social cohesion and even save the planet. Illness and premature death or crime and criminal justice may come to mind, along with conflict and oppression, prejudice and intolerance, and climate change.
