ABSTRACT
If marketing were human, it would be diagnosed as dangerously manic-depressive, a suitable candidate for electro-convulsive therapy. Its clinical history consists of what can only be described as bipolar outbreaks of incipient megalomania and introspective self-loathing. As every student knows, marketing claims to be king of the world, the solution for a small planet, the beall-and-end-all of business. Marketing is a universal verity. Marketing is a category of human action. Marketing delivers a standard of living. Marketing is the most important organizational function, so we’re told. Marketing subsumes neoclassical economics, though economists may beg to differ. Marketing, according to Regis McKenna’s (1991) much-quoted battle cry, is “everything.” That’s right, everything. Or as near as makes no difference.
