Lecture 7
Consumers and markets: a critical approach
“the consumer may be regarded as everything from a heroic political figure to an
undiscerning fool, from an active creator of meaning to a passive victim of market
ideologies, fashion trends and consumer manipulation.”
Alvesson 2013 p28
We’ve seen that marketing can be perceived as:
- “a process by which companies create value for customers and build strong
customer relationships to capture value from customers I return”
Kotler et al 2020
HOWEVER
- Seen from a broader, macro-societal and environmental perspective it is possible to
envision how the sum of all marketing exchanges may gradually deplete local,
regional, or global resources
Kotler et al 2020
- At a consumer level, there are also concerns regarding the ways in which wants and
desires are identified, manipulated and satisfied
Kotler, 2020
1. What is critical thinking?
Deals with skills needed to identify, analyse and evaluate arguments and claims to uncover
and overcome prejudices and biases to formulate and present convincing reasons and
reasonable and intelligent decisions about what to believe and what to do.
Basshamet al 2002
It enables students “TO REACH BEYOND A SIMGLE PERSPECTOVE., TO challenge assumptions
and to better analyse a wide range of challenges and problems in adult life. It enables the
recognition of poor choices, illuminates alternatives, and make sense of complex issues”
Roy and Machiette 2005, 265
- Businesses ‘REQUIRE MANAGERS WHO ARE ABLE TO RECOGNISE, BE SENSITIVE TO
AND HAVE THE CONFIDENCE AND ABILITY TO COPE WITH, A MULTIPLICITY OF VERY
DOFFERENT AND OFTEN CONTRADICTORY DISCOURSES”
Catterall et al 1999
Consumers and markets: a critical approach
“the consumer may be regarded as everything from a heroic political figure to an
undiscerning fool, from an active creator of meaning to a passive victim of market
ideologies, fashion trends and consumer manipulation.”
Alvesson 2013 p28
We’ve seen that marketing can be perceived as:
- “a process by which companies create value for customers and build strong
customer relationships to capture value from customers I return”
Kotler et al 2020
HOWEVER
- Seen from a broader, macro-societal and environmental perspective it is possible to
envision how the sum of all marketing exchanges may gradually deplete local,
regional, or global resources
Kotler et al 2020
- At a consumer level, there are also concerns regarding the ways in which wants and
desires are identified, manipulated and satisfied
Kotler, 2020
1. What is critical thinking?
Deals with skills needed to identify, analyse and evaluate arguments and claims to uncover
and overcome prejudices and biases to formulate and present convincing reasons and
reasonable and intelligent decisions about what to believe and what to do.
Basshamet al 2002
It enables students “TO REACH BEYOND A SIMGLE PERSPECTOVE., TO challenge assumptions
and to better analyse a wide range of challenges and problems in adult life. It enables the
recognition of poor choices, illuminates alternatives, and make sense of complex issues”
Roy and Machiette 2005, 265
- Businesses ‘REQUIRE MANAGERS WHO ARE ABLE TO RECOGNISE, BE SENSITIVE TO
AND HAVE THE CONFIDENCE AND ABILITY TO COPE WITH, A MULTIPLICITY OF VERY
DOFFERENT AND OFTEN CONTRADICTORY DISCOURSES”
Catterall et al 1999
