StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Postmodernism, marketing and the media - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
The paper analyzes postmodernism, marketing and the media. The “Marketing Knowledge Project” aimed to define the forms of marketing knowledge and its content and then gone on to distinguish the four types of marketing knowledge: marketing concepts, structural frameworks, strategic…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER91.1% of users find it useful
Postmodernism, marketing and the media
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Postmodernism, marketing and the media"

Introduction The starting point to such a diverse and profound query as the one put to me here is how Rossiter( 2001) in his "Marketing Knowledge Project" has aimed to define the forms of marketing knowledge and its content and then gone on to distinguish the four types of marketing knowledge: marketing concepts, structural frameworks, strategic principles in the context empirical facts, empirical generalizations, laws and law-like relationships, and theories. For Rossiter (2001) then the post marketing era cannot be explained merely by the theories of buyer behaviour alone and in this context the concept of marketing knowledge has a lot to do with Ethics and Technology and they relate to marketing in the postmodern world. (Rossiter, 2001: 12).Thus for Rossiter marketing knowledge is part of business strategy "...enacted strategies are much more complex than can ever be stated, and managers often self-servingly and inaccurately recall the strategy they used as recently as two years ago, even when a fairly basic description of strategic alternatives is used" Post modernism , marketing and the media The business academia has spoken of marketing as the ultimate reflection of post modernism in social terms and a blend of craft and commerce which keeps changing each day due to technological and social perspectives and constantly changing the means and modes of consumption the society. According to Pierre Bourdieu quoted in Cronin A (2004: pp. 349-369 ) "This economy demands a social world which judges people by their capacity for consumption, their "standard of living", their life-style, as much as by their capacity for production.It finds ardent spokesmen in the vendors of symbolic goods and services, the directors and the executives of firms in tourism and journalism, publishing and the cinema, fashion and advertising, decoration and property development. Through their slyly imperative advice and the example of their consciously "model" life-style, the new taste-makers propose a morality which boils down to the art of consuming, spending and enjoying." Thus given the broad plane upon which this question is based a detailed answer to this question would be like trying to lock up the entire ocean in one match box but this is what we as marketers do. We try to lock up happiness in a matchbox and will gladly market that given the chance. This is a big bad world of marketing where the entire marketing profession stands accused of crossing ethical boundaries, enticing children and adults alike and using to technology to the point of abuse. Welcome to the post-modern marketing era! In this course we were able to discuss the more profound issues behind the post modern marketing era and its influence on modern media and advertising. Visionaries like C. Wright Mills were looking ahead when they described the post-modern period as one where there would be a growth of tertiary sector and the services industry would boom in the era of multi nationals and a rise in capitalism. However the booming free market would be unable to boast of free speech and democratic values in the guise of political and social turmoil. For Doherty (1991) post modernism as phenomena feared human progress and its realities. Other writers have said that this era is a time of uncertainty and doubt (Stacey 1990) and a melting pot of pluralism, democracy and information and consumerism. (Stacey 1990) The marketers have realised that this age has come with its packages of closeness and aids to overcome the physical barriers/social barriers through the media and information technology. Shorter (1975) has identified this with "anonymous intimacy" as people scramble to find emotional depth due to family ties becoming more distant through TV talk and advice shows and texting and chatting. Technology has blurred the divide between home and work as the internet brings home the world.So are we "what we know" . This is an age of post-modern relativism and pluralism which has replaced the vials of the generally accepted universal principles. More importantly critics argue whether Post-modern media actually represents a deteriorated renaissance. (Anderson 1990)..However proponents of pluralism and a strong influence of post modernism insist that the modern media is a bulwark of the modern liberal man with his right of freedom of speech.(Anderson 1990). The post-modern media has on the one hand manifested itself as a large source of information but information alone cannot replace critical reflection, and philosophy and culture which should be an important part of the modern information world.Therefore what we are looking at is a critical, ethical and cultural reflection manifesting itself with in the post-modern media world and we should be rethinking the modern approach to the media. Ethics: Fair-trade ,marketing and advertising I will seek to explain the challenge posed by ethics in the sense of two controversial issues in the marketing world. The first one is advertising to little children and the other one pertains to Fair trade. The post modern ethical consumer and fair trade The Fair trade concept incorporates environmental as well as social issues. Littrell and Dickson (1999) have defined fair trade as a "Continuum of business practices, from minimum to maximum fair-trade practices. Apart from paying fair wages in a local context and providing a safe and clean workplace (mainstream business), they defined maximum fair-trade practices as also encompassing the development of sustainable businesses, empowerment of artisans, fostering well-being, establishing political and social justice, and developing equitable trade." This higher price to the consumer is warranted by the higher wages that the producer will receive for their products and by the fair-trade control mechanisms in the trade channel ( Littrell and Dickson 1999). In April 2000, after a long campaign by the human rights organization Global Exchange, Starbucks decided to carry fair-trade coffee in its 2,300 stores (Straus 2000).Thus FT illustrates a specific type of ethical consumer behaviour and means buying items for their positive quality of supporting people in faraway developing countries. Fair trade and the question of ethics and postmodernism It has been seen by exercising choice and selecting Fair Trade products the literature is united that we as consumers not only contribute to social justice but, for themselves, can forge a more meaningful relationship with the world. (Ulrich, Peter and Charles Sarasin. 1995.) Thus this will be globalization through Fair Trade and may be of immense benefits to the consumer and producers alike.In this evaluation it is worth exploring the ethical considerations of selling a product with the "Ethical" brand like "Fair Trade".The link between ethics and social responsibility is pivotal to a company's long term growth .From a business point of view the business academia is united as to the fact that " Good ethics is often good business". However it would be useful to argue at this point that not all marketing/business practices are unethical as the media has fervently portrayed for many decades.But this leads to another query i.e. how fair is the business game in the arena of Advertising.During a perusal of the literature it was possible for us to see that the marketplace is not a level playing field should the producers actually be penalised for business tactics to increase sales. More importantly the post modern marketing world has see a revival of the conceptions of Corporate Social Responsibility. There is a newfound trend in marketing and business ethics where large corporations publicize their business ethics programs on the Internet. Take the example of Shell Oil, where, after a number of environmental and public relations problems, decided to commit to recyclable and environment friendly energy and publicly promotes human rights worldwide. More importantly literature has spoken out against marketing ethics becoming marketing ploys themselves. Today many organisations are anxious to portray themselves as seeking high moral ground, something they call "ethical business". Traditionally commerce has been perceived as crass and cut throat competition driven and trampling on employee rights. It seems that the media has played a mixed role in this area. Firstly they have created " cultural guilt" around vehicle use and fuel pollution and created environmental awareness yet Oil companies speak little of environmental issues and more on engine fuel efficiency in their adverts.The recent scandal created by the Shell Company where there was the Brent Spar oil spill and the media attention it received is one example. It seems that these companies are less afraid of treading on marketing/business ethics and more afraid of prosecution and law suits. The newfound trend of marketing "the marketing ethics" themselves leads to the query whether business concerns have actually been successful in selling ethical products and whether they have profited from these practices. Modern Banks have joined the Ethics Band wagon by seeking to differentiate the bank, and choose to emphasize its social origins and the issues which would appeal to its traditional market, namely the oppressed minorities like the Scottish Widows Fund in England endorsed by Lloyds TSB Bank.(See Stainer 1995). Another example is the popular coffee house chain of caf's namely Starbucks. The chain became successful for its contribution to good causes for being a top donor to the international aid agency, CARE. (See Stainer 1995).In their article "Is it ethical to compete on ethics"Stainer A, Stainer L (1995)have taken the view that competition should actually be encouraged by ethicists and an overdose of ethics ,(the Going Green trend ) is not helpful in the promotion of good business. Business rivalry is essential therefore for promotion of enterprise and this competition is " indispensable to free enterprise thinking."A similar view is taken by(Sirgy and Lee 1996). " societal marketing concept addresses delivering satisfaction in a way that preserves or enhances consumer wellbeing, the link between consumer satisfaction and consumer wellbeing is not clear in societal marketing. Short-term satisfaction may not enhance consumer wellbeing." Advertising to little children Technology and Ethics As marketers our minds will even lead us to market the whole concept of Ethics if it means we will be able to sell more products (Clay 2000 ,Stainer and Stainer 1995). It is obvious from modern industry practices that modern Business ethics have become a victim of the marketing ploys and as large corporations find themselves struggling to promote positive images of themselves (Clay 2000 ,Stainer and Stainer 1995). For example Body Shop and Star Bucks trade on the basis of using fair trade products. This has also been labeled rhetorically known as "Greenwashing" by companies to conceal their unethical practices. (Clay 2000,Stainer and Stainer 1995). In this age of high consumerism marketers and advertisers will inevitably struggle to have their product viewed and purchased by using increasingly innovative methods.(Clay 2000). Also inevitable is that the children will notice this advertising like the adults. Children tend to respond to visual stimulation (Bishop 1992). The modern parent feels guilty because of not having enough time to spend with the kids and easily gives in the pestering by the child who insists on a certain. So the parents are likely to give in to the child for the sake of feeling that their children are well provided for and the manufacturers make a resultant clean sweep of profits and market shares with their highly advertised branded products. (Beder 1998) Strangely enough academics have not been able to reach to a convincing definition of ethics themselves.For example Nisberg (1988:43) has defined business ethics as "a set of principles that guides business practices to reflect a concern for society as a whole while pursuing profits" whilst Hackley (2005) has defined ethics as a system of moral principles and rules of conduct which develop in a society over a certain period of time. The apparent difficulty of placing "marketing" and "ethics" on a similar plane therefore has often led many academics to retort that the term is an "oxymoron" with in itself and consider it as "intrinsically unethical" or at the least morally neutral. (Hackley 2005). One of the most important areas of marketing ethics remains the debate regarding what makes ethical or unethical advertising to children. Strong proponents of Advertising argue passionately that it is a bulwark of free competitive enterprise (Noggle, 1997). However many academics have expressed concern over the controversy caused by the ethical issues arising from the new found creativity in advertising well aided by technology and psychological strategies (Brenan, 2001). Furthermore academics like Hyman (2004) tend to insist that advertising to children is morally wrong.So is it true as Hyman (2004) suggests that if adults cannot resist these slick emotional messages, what hope do children have The answer to this question is simple. Parents of young children can play an important role to protect their kids from invasive marketing and in educating them about advertising from an early age. However this does not mean that the intentionally targeted Ad-campaigns for small children can be declared ethical at all and thus this becomes yet another post modern challenge to the modern marketer. Role of technology and ethics in the context of the threat posed to marketing through Copyright infringement The digital age seems to have compromised the concept of copyright material and has had negative outcomes for the publishing, music and the computer industries. An important example of this is the peer-to-peer file sharing system of copyrighted music. The Napster and Grokster cases are a good illustration of the legal response of the industries .The copyright industries themselves have responded with new business strategies by providing legal download services. The internet has been famously defined as a network of networks, and the denser these networks become; the more complicated it becomes to prevent the bane of copyright infringement and other intellectual property violations from occurring. (Cooper, J. and D. M. Harrison 2001).Even though the courts have been willing to intervene where there has been an infringement of copyright, the practical difficulties of managing copyright violations arise whenever the "sheer scale" and "speed" of the internet causes high speed reproduction of the material to be achieved without actually being detected. The advent of the photocopier, followed subsequently by, home audio recording, video recording, and finally the Personal Computer (PC) allowed digitised and rapid copying. The modern Copyright Infringer does not need a large factory of copying machines to create illegal copies of, copyrighted material. All in all the challenge for copyright holders has never been greater.An example of the technological challenges faced by the post modern marketer manifest themselves in the host of legal, educational, public relations and technological strategies to keep its profit base from collapsing(Cooper, J. and D. M. Harrison 2001).. Modern age DVD's are encoded to try and prevent copying even though this mechanism has already been circumvented. Software giants like Real Networks, are promoting the use of copyright music over the internet. Other challenges consist of procedural difficulties. That is, in cross border infringements it becomes very hard to gain control over an infringer who resides in or takes refuge in a jurisdiction where that is not an offence. (Cooper, J. and D. M. Harrison 2001). ______________________________________________ References Anderson, W.T. 1990. Reality Isn't What it Used to Be. San Francisco: Harper and Row. Doherty, W.J. 1991. "Family Therapy Goes Postmodern." Networker, September/ October. Mills, C.W. 1959. The Sociological Imagination. New York: Grove Press. O'Hara, M., and W.T. Anderson. 1991. "Welcome to the Postmodern World." Networker, September/October. Shorter, E. 1975. The Making of the Modern Family. New York: Basic Books. Norris, Christopher: What's Wrong with Postmodernism: critical theory and the ends of philosophy (Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1990) Uncritical Theory: postmodernism, intellectuals and the Gulf War (London, Lawrence & Wishart, 1992) McGowan, John: Postmodernism and its Critics (Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1991) Kellner, Douglas: Jean Baudrillard: From Marxism to Postmodernism and Beyond Rossiter (2001) What is Marketing Knowledge" Marketing Theory 1 (1) Wensley (1989) "The Voice of the Consumer" Eur.Jnl of Marketing 24 (7) Reviews by Johan Arndt; Reinhard Angelmar of Marketing Theory: The Philosophy of Marketing Science by Shelby D. Hunt in Journal of Marketing 47 (4), 1983 Campbell & Alexander (1997) "What's wrong with strategy" HBR Cooper, J. and D. M. Harrison (2001). "The social organization of audio piracy on the Internet." Media, Culture & Society 23: 71-89. M. Joseph Sirgy and Dong-Jin Lee (1996) "Setting socially responsible marketing objectives A quality-of-life approach" European Journal of Marketing 30,5 Pierre Bourdieu quoted in Cronin A (2004) "Regimes of Mediation: Advertising Practitioners as Cultural Intermediaries" Consumption, Markets and Culture Vol. 7, No. 4, December 2004, pp. 349-369 MacGillivray, Alex. 2000. The Fair Share: The Growing Market Share of Green and Ethical Products. London: New Economics Foundation.. Littrell, Mary A. and Marsha A. Dickson. 1999. Social Responsibility in the Global Market. Fair Trade of Cultural Products. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. Straus, Tamara. 2000. Fair Trade Coffee: An Overview of the Issue. http://www.organicconsumers.org/starbucks/coffback.htm. Ulrich, Peter and Charles Sarasin. 1995. Facing Public Interest: The Ethical Challenge to Business Policy and Corporate Communications. London: Kluwer Academic Publications Anderson, Thomas W. and William H. Cunningham. 1972. The Socially Conscious Consumer. Journal of Marketing, 36 ( July): 23- 31. Adam, O. (2004). 'Young people as consumers' Journal of consumer studies Vol. 28 Issue 4, p412-427, 16p "Is it ethical to compete on ethics"Stainer A, Stainer LBusiness Ethics: A European Review (UK), 1995 Vol 4 Issue 4 Brennan, M. (1991). "Is There More to Ethical Marketing than Marketing Ethics." Marketing Bulletin 2: 8-17. Bishop, T.R. (1992), "Integrating business ethics into an undergraduate curriculum", Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 11 No.4, pp.291-9. Nisberg, J.N. (1988), The Random House Handbook of Business Terms, Random House, New York, NY., Punter, L., Gangneux, D. (1998), "Social accountability: the most recent element to ensure total quality management", Total Quality Management, Vol. 9 No.4/5, pp.S196-S198. Smith, N. C. (1995) Marketing Strategies for the Ethics Era; Sloan Management Review, Summer, pp. 85-97. Sharon Beder, Marketing to Children (University of Wollongong, 1998). Miriam H. Zoll, Psychologists Challenge Ethics Of Marketing To Children (American News Service, 2000) Donnell Alexander and Aliza Dichter, Ads And Kids: How Young Is Too Young (2001) Rebecca Clay, Advertising to children: Is it ethical (Monitor on Psychology, Volume 31, No. 8 Sept. 2000. "Is it ethical to compete on ethics"Stainer A, Stainer LBusiness Ethics: A European Review (UK), 1995 Vol 4 Issue 4 Laczniak, Gene R. and Patrick E. Murphy (1991), "Fostering Ethical Marketing Decisions," Journal of Business Ethics, 10: 259-271. Laczniak, Russell N. and Sanford Grossbart (1990), "An Assessment of Assumptions Underlying the Reasonable Consumer Element in Deceptive Advertising Policy," Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, 9: 85-99 Adam, O. (2004). 'Young people as consumers' Journal of consumer studies Vol. 28 Issue 4, p412-427, 16p Adrian, K. Martin, G. (2002). 'The ethical framework of advertising and marketing research practitioners': a moral development perspective Journal of Advertising Vol. 22 No.2, pp.39-47. Brenan, S. (2001). Children rights and Childhood, Routledge, London. Brian M. Young, Anne, D., Lynne, Eagle. (2003) 'Attitudes of parents towards advertising to children' Journal of marketing management, Vol. 19 Issue 3/4, p475. Brown, O. (2002). 'Ethics in advertising decision making': implications for reducing the incidence of deceptive advertising Journal of Consumer Affairs Vol. 28 No.2, pp.380-403. Hackley, R. (2005). 'Marketing and machiavellianism' Journal of Marketing, Vol. 48 pp.42. Hyman, F. (2004). 'Research on advertising ethics': past, present and future", Journal of Advertising, Vol. 23 No.3, pp.5-16. Kapoor, M., Verma, J. (2005) 'Children advertisements'. Journal of consumer studies, Vol. 9 Issue 1, p21-36, 16p Kenneth, M. (2005). 'Ethics in advertising': review, analysis and suggestions Journal of Public Policy and Marketing Vol. 17 No.2, pp.316-9. Noggle, E.(1997). The moral status of children: Children's right, parents and family Justice: Social theory and practice 23: 1-26 of children: Children's right, parents and family justice: Social theory and practice 23: 1-26 Rossiter (2001) What is Marketing Knowledge Marketing Theory 1,1 2001 Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Postmodernism, marketing and the media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words”, n.d.)
Postmodernism, marketing and the media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/marketing/1504567-postmodernism-marketing-and-the-media
(Postmodernism, Marketing and the Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 Words)
Postmodernism, Marketing and the Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 Words. https://studentshare.org/marketing/1504567-postmodernism-marketing-and-the-media.
“Postmodernism, Marketing and the Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/marketing/1504567-postmodernism-marketing-and-the-media.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Postmodernism, marketing and the media

Critical and Post-modern Ideas Change the Way a Manager Behaved in the Work Environment

From the above, it is obvious that a manager who adopts these ideas would include the employees in the decision making of the company since he would want to avoid publicity through anti- management riots and media focus.... The theory has also considered the corporate colonization of everyday life through intrusive presence of big corporations, concentration in a few brands, media pre occupation with corporate health more than indices of social health and a decrease in the quality of life....
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay

The Purpose of Fashion Writing

The theory of fields, developed by Bourdieu's, offers an insightful starting point that helps in the understanding of media field paradigm.... The most important aspect of fashion is how people look like in what they wear.... Fashion is a tool meant to self-promote someone if used appropriately and it will be discussed in this paper....
10 Pages (2500 words) Essay

ADIDAS: Advertising Trends for World Cup

his is one of the longest and most successful partners hips in the modern sports marketing history.... Gellner says "+10 is the biggest football marketing campaign in the history of Adidas" (Adidas maps its biggest, 2006).... didas campaign is a classic example of this rule in practice;it is perfect scenario where the effects of postmodernism can be seen as living example of the transformation in thinking and in style to meet the new changes and challenges of the new global world....
7 Pages (1750 words) Case Study

Postmodernism Art and Cognitive Mapping

They said that postmodern art had attempted to be a boundary between high class and mass media material and that won't be able to serve its definite purpose with its ambiguity (Landa 2004).... Its flexibility proven as it stretched its horizon and encompasses as well cultural description, constitutional interpretation, business and marketing.... postmodernism, literally mean "after the modern", was originally used in architectural premises.... In its particular form, postmodernism was used in identifying pluralistic style in various arts, such as painting, music, philosophy, literature and even films....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

The Impact of Postmodernism and Live Art on the Simpsons

This paper aims to analyze "The Simpsons" in the context of postmodernism.... hellip; The essay explores postmodernism through "The Simpsons".... The essay "The Impact of postmodernism and Live Art on the Simpsons" investigates how postmodernism and live art influenced on "The Simpsons"....
7 Pages (1750 words) Essay

Post-Modernism and its Impact on Current Marketing Thought

The modernist era was mainly focused on objective reality beliefs, dualistic forms of thought,… During this era, marketing and its success was dependent on product acceptance.... However, according to Ellis et al (2011: p45), post-modernist perspectives on marketing, in contrast, adhere to the viewpoint that there exists no single correct and universal scientific method.... This increased role of the consumer, however, does not diminish the role of marketing because, as stated by Hunt and Morgan (1995: p5), consumers still have imperfect information about products that might match their tastes and preferences and, thus, their preferred social reality....
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay

Applied Buyer Behaviour in Global Context

This essay intends to analyze the 'Keep Walking' advertisement by Johnnie Walker in light of the commercial communication expressed in the video.... Johnnie Walker is characterized by socially idealized imagery that fails to capture a representative diversity of the target audience.... hellip; The conclusion from this study states that the advert employs a number of stereotypes for standardized and idealized images that are created to depict professional success and good-looking well-dressed characters conveying 'sex-role stereotypes' against sex-appropriate appearance, behaviors, skills, interests, and self-perceptions....
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay

The Place of Dream for all Children

And also the author explains how postmodernism in the urban analysis may include a variety of criteria, which are applicable to the Disney theme parks.... The purpose of this paper is to determine whether Disney World can be described as a postmodern city.... hellip; One of the most popular vacation destinations in the world is the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida on a 28, 000-acre property....
12 Pages (3000 words) Term Paper
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us