Adventures in Misplaced Marketing

Citation

Dann, S. (2003), "Adventures in Misplaced Marketing", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 20 No. 1, pp. 67-68. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363760310456964

One of the most satisfying, yet worrying, aspects of teaching marketing is the enthusiasm with which some people embrace the notion. Just because marketing can be applied in any context, it does not necessarily mean that it should. However, converts to marketing, particularly those who have migrated over from other social sciences, often adopt the concept with such evangelical zeal that they are blind to any criticisms. Adventures in Misplaced Marketing takes a realistic, but not pessimistic, view of the marketing concept and its applications across a range of marketing activities, including its recent adoption in many non‐traditional and non‐commercial fields.

The term “misplaced marketing” was coined by Rotfeld to denote situations where marketing was “misapplied, misused, abused, or simply the focus of social criticisms” (p. 11). However, underpinning the whole issue of misplaced marketing is the relevance, and agreed substance, of the marketing concept itself. The idea of a customer orientation that comes with a distinct set of tools and techniques for implementation is intuitively appealing, hence the growing popularity of the marketing approach in related disciplines. In practice, marketing is difficult to apply and, in some cases, irrelevant or even damaging.

The book takes readers through a vast array of cases and examples of misplaced marketing. Readers may be familiar with some of these through Rotfeld’s earlier papers on misplaced marketing published in the Journal of Consumer Marketing. What is particularly pleasing about these examples is the fact that they do not focus entirely on US‐based campaigns but also incorporate those undertaken in other countries, most notably Australia and New Zealand.

The book is divided into five parts covering different aspects of misplaced marketing. These include the modern production orientation of marketing companies (with chapters focussing on service companies and advertising agencies), pitfalls of arrogant ignorance (with chapters on advertising agencies, trade associations and government), problems of satisfying customer needs (with chapters highlighting problems associated with self‐regulation, fear of marketing and the “wrong benefits” which arise from applying marketing to education and politics), and explanations and criticisms of misplaced marketing (including chapters on the consequences of poor hiring decisions and inappropriate applications of technology focussing on the issue of spam).

Of the many perspectives and examples of misplaced marketing that are discussed and analysed in detail, from a personal perspective, two stand out as areas of concern that I, and students of mine, have grappled with in class for many years, these being the marketing of education and the expansion of political marketing.

While both issues are variations on the same theme, that is whether or not the basic tenet of satisfying customer needs is always appropriate, they are also both fields where the recent rapid expansion of the use of marketing seems to have been almost uncritically accepted by both academics and professionals. Few have stopped to look at the implications of following the consumer in areas which fundamentally require leadership and adherence to core standards, or in other words, a much stronger focus on a production or sales orientation. As Rotfeld states with respect to political marketing “with marketing in control, leadership is lost” (p. 165). In discussing the unintended consequences of introducing a marketing orientation into education, where students now consider themselves customers and believe they are entitled to “service with a smile”, a number of scenarios familiar to all educators are analysed from the misplaced marketing perspective. Although written in a way that is easy to read and often amusing, a serious message underpins the whole issue of applying the marketing concept uncritically to all industries.

The inappropriate application of the marketing concept to whole industries, as mentioned above, is the most serious issue in the book. Other examples, particularly those in the first two sections, are interesting but generally less widespread in terms of potential “damage”, as they are more focussed on the failures of companies, governments and campaigns to appropriately use marketing in specific campaigns. In particular, Chapter 4, “Advertising only a copywriter would love” and Chapter 5, “Hey gang, let’s put on a show!”, provide excellent discussions of the failure of many creatives to take audience preferences and requirements into consideration when designing campaigns, but at the end of the day, the failures have limited consequences. Even in the case of advertising which addresses serious social issues, the cost of the failure of a single advertising campaign, does not fundamentally undermine the whole issue of concern.

Another key message of the book (that many marketers may not want to hear) is that, not only is the marketing concept not always appropriate, it is often not a prerequisite for commercial success. Firms throughout the world have made substantial profits for years by taking the less popular production and sales approaches. Marketing is undoubtedly valuable for the majority of commercial enterprises but, unfortunately, it is not essential.

The main value of the book is that it helps marketers stand back and take a more objective view of the value and limitations of their discipline. As a text it is ideal for final year students and postgraduates with an in‐depth knowledge and understanding of marketing. Without this knowledge, many of the arguments contained in the book would make limited sense. For example, the discussion of the perceived dark side of market segmentation, and the rebuttal of the core criticisms, is one which requires a fundamental understanding of the hows and why of the segmentation process (pp. 154‐56). Ideally this book should be prescribed as compulsory reading for all graduating marketing majors as a reality check. The promotion of the marketing approach as a universal solution to commercial and social problems limits the ability of many to consider, and respect, alternative perspectives, but by openly raising concerns about the limitations of marketing in such an accessible and readable way, this book goes some way towards addressing this tendency of marketers to be too inwardly focussed.