Marketing as a response to paradox and norms in the 1960s and 1970s
Journal of Historical Research in Marketing
ISSN: 1755-750X
Article publication date: 25 January 2013
Abstract
Purpose
This study seeks to investigate the interaction between marketers' strategic behaviors, social norms, and societal stakeholders within a particular historical time period, the 1960s and 1970s.
Design/methodology/approach
The study's findings are based on an analysis of two dominant retail industry trade publications, Chain Store Age and Progressive Grocer.
Findings
The analysis reveals an intriguing array of strategic marketing activity throughout these two decades not captured in considerations of marketing strategy at the time. The retailers examined engaged in two interesting behaviors. First, they responded to a wide range of stakeholder demands in a paradoxical fashion. Second, as retailers were confronted with social norms, instead of conforming to these norms they worked to help influence and shape them to their own advantage. This examination of retailers' behaviors over two decades has allowed the authors to present an intriguing new dimension to the understanding of marketing strategy.
Originality/value
The study found that throughout the 1960s and 1970s, marketers appeared to be actively engaged in a social dialogue. Through this dialogue, they not only responded to norms, but also attempted to shape the norms that came to define legitimate behavior for the marketers. This kind of strategic marketing endeavor was not accounted for in the managerial school of thought that dominated marketing thinking at the time.
Keywords
Citation
Bourassa, M.A., Cunningham, P.H. and Handelman, J.M. (2013), "Marketing as a response to paradox and norms in the 1960s and 1970s", Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 47-70. https://doi.org/10.1108/17557501311293352
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited