Socially Responsible Marketing

Table of ContentsOrigins of Social Marketing.....................................................................................................................................1Definition of Socially Responsible Marketing:................................................................................................2Social Issues:..................................................................................................................................................................2Bono’s Product (RED) Initiative: Reducing CSR to Cause-Related Marketing by Stefano Ponte, Lisa Ann Richey and Mike Baab..............................................................................................................3Social Marketing Mix..................................................................................................................................................3Product – offer made to target adopters...........................................................................................................3Price – costs that consumers have to bear.......................................................................................................4Special focus on GAP:.................................................................................................................................................5

ETHICS..........................................................................................................................6Definition........................................................................................................................................................................ 6The Organisational Moral Development Model – Reidenbach and Robin,1991..............................6Concerns.......................................................................................................................................................................... 7Segmentation................................................................................................................................................................ 7Materialization of society – do the young people receive the correct message?.............................7Research - Consumer privacy:...............................................................................................................................7Pricing.............................................................................................................................................................................. 8Product development:...............................................................................................................................................8Distribution....................................................................................................................................................................8Personal selling............................................................................................................................................................ 8Advertising..................................................................................................................................................................... 8International marketing...........................................................................................................................................9

EVALUATION: (PRODUCT)RED Criticisms and Articles......................................................9Social Marketing vs. Commercial Marketing................................................................................................10Mark Rosenman, April 11, 2007 - The Patina of philanthropy............................................................10Further criticism.......................................................................................................................................................12Advertising - Carla C. J. M. Millar and Chong Ju Choi, 2003..................................................................12Consumer experience – Product Red is a social good and consumers respond back................13Culture as a commodity.........................................................................................................................................14The dependence effect:..........................................................................................................................................14Vance Packard,The Hidden Persuaders, 1957.............................................................................................14

Origins of Social Marketing

Kotler and Zaltman (1971): application of marketing to solution of social and health problems, and “to sell brotherhood like soap” (Wiebe, 1951)

o We can use marketing to make people choose one thing from hundreds, so why can’t we sell “brotherhood like soap”

Planned social change which involves an exchange relationship between the client and change agent (Niehoff, 1966)

Definition of Socially Responsible Marketing: Harnesses desirable social causes, such as the environment and consumerism, to

advance the interests of a commercial organisationo RED campaign works with Global Fund (non-profit organisation) with

each of their partners (Gap, Apple etc.) as the profiting companies behind them

o MTV as another example for this type of socially responsible marketing SHOPPING TO SAVE LIVES: PRODUCT RED AND THE ILLUSION OF CONSUMER AGENCY By MATTHEW ARKELL Product Red appeals to this sense of "the real" by claiming to

offer consumers a way to intervene in a "real" problem: the spread of AIDS in Africa. Product Red essentially constructs a virtual simulacrum of Africa and the AIDS virus for First World markets. The campaign manufactures a vision of the world in which all of Africa's problems can be combated through consumer agency, in other words, through millions of ordinary Americans consuming "Red" products.

Social Issues: 1) Altruistic causes

o E.g. Charity donationsRED works with the Global Fund and gives to the charitable organisation to help alleviate AIDS in Africa

2) Social betterment causes o E.g. Anti-discrimination, improved environment

RED and their goal of eliminating AIDS or helping provide funding for the pills which could save thousands of lives is their way of working towards social betterment

The most widespread misconception about (RED) was that it was a traditional charity

However:(RED) saw itself as offering benefits back to its partner companies; as a result, (RED) had therefore intentionally approached the marketing divisions—not the foundation divisions—of possible partnersAdditionally, “charity” products tended to have a price markup which meant the donation fell exclusively on the consumer, not the company. (RED) products did not follow this model; the companies themselves covered the donation from their profitsIt aimed not to make people feel responsible for or guilty about world problems in order to induce them to buy, but instead to tap into their consumerism by offering them a (RED) choice

Bono’s Product (RED) Initiative: Reducing CSR to Cause-Related Marketing by Stefano Ponte, Lisa Ann Richey and Mike Baab

Encourages corporations to earn profits as they pursue charity, and pushes the agenda of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) towards distant others as opposed to the issues within their own industries

As consumer attitudes have shifted in recent decades, major brands now understand—and exploit—the popular culture’s ‘yearning to connect to people and things that give meaning to their lives’

What does RED mean for CSR and the role of business in society? RED is a ‘disengaged’ form of CSR – almost entirely separated from the operations in which these corporations are involved

RED does not attempt to change or improve the normal functioning of business and trade

The RED ‘partner’ corporations have a low level of involvement with Africa in their day-to-day operations

RED is focused on the welfare of Africans with AIDS in general, not of workers in factories producing RED products

o Bono stated explicitly at the Product RED launch that labour issues are of secondary importance to people dying of AIDS: ‘We do not think that trade is bad. We are for labour issues. Labour issues are very serious but six and a half thousand Africans dying is more serious’.

RED pushes CSR back towards the disengagement that characterizes ‘old-style’ philanthropy, where companies donated some of their profits to relatively unrelated projects

Use ‘doing good’ to sell a particular set of products – profit is generated and donation is given at the same time. With RED, money making and giving are one and the same

RED embrace that envelops the logos of these seven companies is itself a good investment

Brand equity has come to incorporate ethical values and reputation, and as brands are increasingly more about lifestyles than products, actual sales figures of RED products are less important than the media attention generated

Social Marketing MixMarketing ethics examines systematically marketing and marketing morality, related to 4P-issues such as unsafe products, deceptive pricing, deceptive advertising or bribery, discrimination in distribution (cf. Smith and Quelch, 1993, p. 13).

Product – offer made to target adoptersArmani - Metal wrap-around sunglasses (style EA 9285/S) launched worldwide. Available in green, rose, blue, smoke grey, grey and brown, all embossed with the Emporio Armani Red logo. The forked frame arms, available in shades of ruthenium, gunmetal and light gold, are superimposed on the single lenses.Also Product Red FragranceGap - INSPI(RED)"Gap T-shirt: Made in Africa from 100 percent African cotton, the T-shirt debuted in the UK in spring 2006. We've sourced product from Africa for more than a decade

Clothing Line

Kids clothing line Converse Motorola Dell Microsoft – You get what you want people get what they need American Express Hallmark – Greeting cards, note books Apple - Gift card for purchases at Apple's iTunes online store, for movies, TV

shows or music. Currently only available in the US at Apple's online store. Also iPod nano and shuffle red

Price – costs that consumers have to bear

Partners were supposed to charge on the same prices – no charity model 50% of the profits went to the product red

However:

The usual presumption about so-called undifferentiated commodities is that they are exceedingly price sensitive. A fractionally lower price gets the business. That is seldom true except in the imagined world of economics textbooks. In the actual world of markets, nothing is exempt from other considerations, even when price competition rages - Theodore Levitt (1980)

Begg (2005) described how monopoly can lead to price discrimination

Although Gap is largely known for its “classic” t-shirts that retail for $14, the Product RED t-shirt sells for $28. Executives state that the 100% price increase is not gouging, but that limited edition products like the RED clothes are simply more expensive to produce (Beattie, 2007)." (Kuehn, Katthleen, 2008: p. 9)

Place – channels by which change is promoted and places in which change is supported and encouraged

Launch in the UK US, CANADASWITZERLAND

UNIVERSITIESORGANIZATIONSONLINE AND MEDIA:

o Advertisements for Gapo Superbowl o Magazines: Vanity Fair

o Myspaceo VH1o Oprah (media)

Promotion – means by which the change is promoted to the target o Through the use of partners’ own marketing funds o Used their demographics and target markets to promote (RED); used their

core competencies o Online mediao Televisiono Celebritieso University ambassadorso Promotion cardso Presentationso Word of mouth

Special focus on GAP:ProductsWhen Gap was founded in 1969, it was unique and new. Its target customers were younger generations. Gap's hottest seller at the time was its "basic" look, which consisted of its signature blue jeans and white cotton t-shirts. Its founders realized that jeans were becoming popular among the younger generation of customers. Nevertheless, the company recognized that despite its popularity among the youth, there were not enough assortments of jeans in the clothing outlets. Capitalizing on this deficit was merely the next step in expanding. Gap's founders were sure that jeans could be sold through a chain of small stores devoted solely to that product.[12] As this business idea became successful, Gap expanded its line of offering and now Gap offers a range of clothing for men, women, and children. As Gap's business began to boom, it also began to expand and send its manufacturing jobs abroad. Gap Inc. added two new entities to its company, Banana Republic and Old Navy.Gap also owns an online shoe store called Piperlime, selling shoes for all ages.

PromotionGap's promotion strategy has been blamed for the company's bust. Due to lack of a clear message, it has been alleged that Gap has lost contact with its core customers[13] which the company is attempting to win back. Gap is the only national retailer to spend more than 2% of its marketing budget for online marketing.[14] As a result, the company's e-commerce website has been cited numerous times as a model of stylish efficiency. Gap promotes its products through gift cards, catalogs, advertising programs on TV channels and magazines. Gap tries to position itself as a stylish casualwear retailer in a fair price. However, its marketing efforts to reach out to upperclass, luxury consumers is blamed for recent problems in the company.[15]In addition, Gap's garment designs and products varies from North America and Europe. Products sold in Europe are targeted towards a European sense of style, whereas the Gap's North American garments and accessories are designed particularly for North Americans. This has recently changed and the firm has as of

Summer 2009 reverted back to an enthocentric marketing model, based on North America.

PlaceGap's main opportunity to reach its customer is through its stores. Gap operates stores in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Korea and Japan. The Gap, Inc. also has franchise agreements with unaffiliated franchisees to operate Gap or Banana Republic stores in Singapore, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Korea, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia,Cambodia, Indonesia and Mexico [16]. As of February 3, 2007] The Gap, Inc. operates a total of 3,131 store locations.[17]. In January 2008, Gap signed a deal with Marinopoulos Group to open Gap and Banana Republic stores in Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Croatia.[18] In February 2009, Elbit Imaging Ltd. secured a franchise to open and operate Gap and Banana Republic stores in Israel.[19]

ETHICS

DefinitionSystematic study of how moral standards are applied to marketing decisions, behaviours, and institutions.’ (Murphy, 1997, p. 261)

This year’s (2002) Ethical Purchasing Index (EPI) reveals that consumers continue to take a proactive approach to shopping, and are turning to products that have a positive impact on the environment and society.The EPI now stands at 125, an increase of 10 points over last year, and up 25 points from the 1999 baseline year – with unprecedented growth in some key consumer areas. This means that the sales in the ethical marketplace are growing at a rate of 19%, excluding banking and investment; and overall market share grew at a rate of 9% in 2001. When ethical banking and investment are added to the sales value of these products, ethical business activity contributes a massive £13.9 billion to the UK economy. This growth rate far outstrips average economic growth of 2.1% in 2001 and is double the rate of growth for goods in ourtotal basket.

Market growth Spending on ethical goods and services is, again, on the increase – an indicator that must come as a welcome sign for those of us who arecommitted to sustainable development.

How big is the ethical market? At £6.8bn, the EPI demonstrates, quite clearly, the importance of ethical consumerism to the UK economy.

The Organisational Moral Development Model – Reidenbach and Robin,1991

1) Amoral seeks to win at any cost and with any means, including exposing workers to life-threatening substances in violation of safety codes for the sake of profits

Responsible selling to a new audience is still no substitute for fundamentally responsible business practices

Motorola’s phones are part of an industry with serious human-rights issues: a key phone component, the metallic ore coltan, is sometimes sourced from war-ravaged Congo in Africa (though Motorola claims it sources from legal suppliers)

2) Legalistic abiding by the letter of the law Gap damaged by allegations of child labour in the supply chain (but

now follows strict codes of conduct and inspections)

3) Responsive goes beyond profitability and legalistic concerns and attempts to strike a balance between making a profit and doing the right thing

4) Emerging Ethical much greater tilt toward ethics, based on the recognition on the part of managemnet of a social contract between business and society; accept codes of conduct that are elaborated in handbooks and policy statements, in committees, by ombudsman, in ethics training programes, etc.

5) Developed Ethical organisation-wide acceptance of a common set of ethical values that permeate all organisational actions

(PRODUCT)RED could be considered to be in the final stage of the organisational moral devleopment model, because they already have established ethical values of giving as their common goal, thus being an organisation-wide action

“With RED, money making and giving are one and the same” (Ponte et al., 2008)

GIORGIO ARMANI – Ethical fashion forum member

Concerns

Segmentation

Materialization of society – do the young people receive the correct message?It has also been argued that many CSR efforts are said to foster the “materialization of society.” As Shaw and Barry (1992) rightly noted, this is already occurring through traditional marketing activities such as advertising and retailing. These companies are merely appealing to an already materialistic society.

Increasing awareness in the US - We did a pre-study before we launched in fall 2006 and had 1% awareness. We went backin the field in January 2007, and did another test. We found that, in the general population,we’d risen to 17% accurate awareness of the brand—17% of the public knew that (RED) wasabout AIDS in Africa. In our core demographic, that percentage was at 32%.

Were these people really aware of a cause or where following a fashion?

Apple released a multicolor iPod series of iPod nano in 2008 asking which ipod are you?

Research - Consumer privacy:

In recent years consumer privacy has become a greater concern due to expansion of direct and database marketing. These privacy issues might be expected to arise in loyalty schemes (Smith and Sparks 2003).Previous research has questioned the ethical basis of such data (Evans 1999) and provided evidence that consumers do have ‘underlying’ privacy concerns. More recent work has suggested that consumers are often quite ignorant of how loyalty card data is used (Graeff and Harmon 2002), and this may help explain their willingness to sign up for such schemes.If consumers have a loyalty card, then retailers know more about consumers that consumers know about retailers, and moreover can act on these data.

PricingUnethical pricing distribution:Data released by Advertising Age claims retail participants in Product Red including Gap, Motorola and Apple, Inc. have invested $100 million in advertising and raised only $18 million for The Global Fund[4]. Apple donated $10 of the sale of their $149 iPod during the initial stages of the campaign, and no longer discloses how much it donates.[13] Product Red states on their website that they donate "up to" half of their gross profits.[14]

Starbucks is offering to donate 5 cents for every red cup drink they sell. There are three red cup drinks to choose from. I will not be joining Starbucks Red Campaign for a mere 5 cent donation. If you're buying a cuppa anyway then it works just fine, but if you're going out of your way to stop by Starbucks on December 1st, then why not just go to Africare.org, where they fight AIDS and poverty every day, and donate a few tax-deductible dollars like I plan to do? Raising 2 kids I have very little money left over for charity, but 5 cents in my name, after spending money on a drink I don't really need, is almost an insult.

Product development:All the standards are maintained – some products are actually made by extra materials – GAP tshirt – that can come closer to the consumer

DistributionManufacturers: The case of GAP scandalSupplier: Are they abiding to environmental standards

Personal sellingTrained employeesFamous peopleVolunteers

AdvertisingUse of role models – However are they always the best models? There can controversy – For example: George Bush was used on one of the cover

(see below for further criticism on advertising)

International marketingProduct is contained to the western practises of selling – iconic brand, the nike kind of model – When large Western companies rushed to enter emerging markets 20 years ago, they were guided by a narrow and often arrogant perspective. They tended to see countries like China and India simply as targets—vast agglomerations of would-be consumers hungry for modern goods and services. C.K. Prahalad and Kenneth Lieberthal call this view “corporate imperialism,” and they show how it has distorted the operating, marketing, and distribution decisions multinationals have made in serving developing countries. In particular, these companies have tended to gear their products and pitches to small segments of relatively affluent buyers—those who, not surprisingly, most resemble the prototypical Western consumer(2003)

Product promotes multinationals and their power - Poor nations such as Brazil, China, India, and Mexico, often under pressure from developed countries, let in transnational companies, but they did so slowly, almost reluctantly. They were convinced that global Goliaths would wipe out local enterprises in one fell swoop - Arindam K. Bhattacharya and David C. Michael, 2008

EVALUATION: (PRODUCT)RED Criticisms and Articles

The Legitimacy of Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility as a Marketing Tool by J.J. Asongu1

Business organizations are expected to exhibit ethical behaviour and moral management, by among other things accepting some accountability for societal welfare.

The broadest sense of the concept, CSR refers to the relationship between business and the society in which it operates. It focuses on the obligations which a business has to fulfill if it is to be considered a good corporate citizen.

Carroll (2001) says “strategic philanthropy” (p. 200), which means the same to the author as SCSR, is carried out with the goal of accomplishing strategic business goals - good deeds are believed to be good for business as well as for society.

Another criticism of CSR has been that it will put the firm at a competitive disadvantage since social action entails costs that competitors need not bear. Those who put forward this argument fail to recognize the strategic element of CSR. SCSR is designed not only to eliminate this type of criticism, but also to give the company competitive advantage over its competitors

Critics of companies that have clearly designed their CSR program as a marketing tool have sometimes come under heavy criticism. A case in point is Gap, Inc, and its RED branded products designed to raise money for the Global Fund for AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. While Gap and other participants in the RED campaign have donated over $20 million to the Global Fund, detractors claim that they have spent even more on marketing.

Social Marketing vs. Commercial Marketing Social marketing is concerned with the market’s core beliefs and values

o Bono and Shriver pushing HIV/AIDS as a serious problem, and trying to push the message that by purchasing (RED) products, they are working with the market’s core beliefs and values of trying to eliminate AIDS

Business marketing deals with superficial preferences and opinionsSocial marketing can be accused of adding to promotional noise

Mark Rosenman, April 11, 2007 - The Patina of philanthropy (RED) is just another example of corporate world aligning operations with its

central purpose of increasing shareholder profit, but this time it is cloaked by philanthropy

Cause-related marketing ties consumers’ desires to see a social good with the corporations’ desires to see higher profits. Corporate altruism has shrunk as corporate avarice has grown. 

Many profits are up, in part, because of businesses’ association with charities Studies show that people (about 89% of them) more likely to buy from companies

with cause-related arrangements Self-serving, which further diminishes true altruism in the corporate world Cannot consume our way to charity and to a better world.  Doing good sometimes

requires sacrifice, and we ought not allow ourselves to be convinced that we’ve done our part because of the color of what we use (BuyLessCrap.com)

Generally don’t know how much goes to the cause and how much goes to profit for each sale or in the aggregate; there is no true transparency or accountability

Cause-Related Consumerism by Melissa Davis October 23, 2006 issue

Jeremy Dale, VP of global retail and channel marketing at Motorola, explains why the company decided to participate: "Red isn't about charity; it is about commerce. It's not just about trying to do some good: we believe that people want to make a difference in a world that is out of whack, and by us giving

away some of our profits we think we will attract new customers. So we can help people who need helping, while it also makes good business sense."

People who buy into Product Red are, effectively, buying into an issue (to alleviate HIV and AIDS in Africa)

o Participating brands achieve a particular credibility among consumers simply by being part of the Product Red partnership that, as a brand, has a cool factor. The partnership structure also gives the brands support and shared knowledge. Red is also clever in that it does not target one specific demographic audience but rather a psychographic. Through its work, Red hopes to raise awareness of the crucial human-rights issue of HIV and AIDS and offers a chance for consumers to participate in actually doing something about its eradication.

American Express did its market research before joining the Red partnership. Gail Wasserman (vice president of international public affairs and communications): "There are 1.5 million conscience-consumers in the UK who make decisions about brands based on social and ethical values—it is an audience with increased affluence who can choose where and how they spend their money. The market is currently worth £4 billion [US$ 7.44 million] annually and is growing."

Risky for big businesses to invest in responsibility-led campaigns, especially for brands exposed over the years for poor business practices; attempts to position a multinational brand as "responsible" opens brand to potential criticism about other areas of business

Sky and Virgin Group recently started promoting responsibility through their leaders: James Murdoch, CEO of British Sky Broadcasting, and Richard Branson, head of Virgin Group, have both taken a stance to tackle climate change and carbon-emission reduction

o "We think the brands that are in tune with the values of their customers are more successful," says Ben Stimson, Sky's director of corporate responsibility

Responsible selling to a new audience is still no substitute for fundamentally responsible business practices

o Motorola’s phones are part of an industry with serious human-rights issues: a key phone component, the metallic ore coltan, is sometimes sourced from war-ravaged Congo in Africa (though Motorola claims it sources from legal suppliers)

o Gap damaged by allegations of child labour in the supply chain (but now follows strict codes of conduct and inspections)

Ralph Ardill, founder of The Brand Experience Consultancy: “What will increasingly differentiate brands are the quality and sustainability of this responsible consumerism. Brands whose organizational purpose, vision, and values are driven by this are set to flourish. Those that are simply looking to promote an ethical veneer will be quickly outed and become obsolete."

Motorola's Dale says: "Motorola doesn't just want to be a great company, but a good company. It's not about the coolness of cause-related marketing—it's about wanting to make a difference."

Kuehn, Kathleen. "Compassionate Consumerism: Healing Africa Through Gap’s Product (RED) Campaign" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, TBA, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, May 21, 2008 <Not Available>. 2009-02-03 http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p234360_index.html

“…for-profit corporation is essentially challenging “the separation between private and public sphere, thrusting consumer society and civil society into collision” (Kraidy & Goeddertz, p. 15).

“On the other end, Goldman and Papson (1996) demonstrate that the use of social issues to sell product are more negligible than beneficial and can cause companies to lock themselves in a contradiction. In the context of green marketing, a study on the “environmentally conscious” clothing company Esprit. They argue that the company contradicted itself by condemning overconsumption as a selling point through its promotion of environmentalism while simultaneously legitimatizing the over-consumption of Esprit products.”

“However, Gap RED takes “trying on the social self” beyond simply “wearing Africa” because of the celebrity endorsers attached to the campaign. Celebrities have long been used in advertising to promote goods because of the ready associations we have with them. According to Goldman (1992), the presence of celebrities in an advertisement “summons forth the value he or she has accumulated as a star and attempts to transfer it to a product” (p. 69). Gap RED’s focus on commodities is therefore dually applied through the use of celebrities.”

“Drawing from Goldman’s work on green marketing, he notes that socially conscious campaigns justify – and legitimize – consumption for progressive ends by integrating the conflicting value of morality and superficial aesthetics in its products”

Further criticism

Motorola may be a highly visible Red parner, but irws phones are part of an industry with serious human-rights issues; a key phone component, the metallic ore coltan, is sometimes sourced from war-ravaged Congo in Africa (though Motorola claims it sources from legal suppliers).Garment company Gap is among brands damaged by allegations of child labor in the supply chain.

It is  unethical for some companies such as Gap which sources its key components from such countries while being affiliated with prodcut RED. By accepting to join Product Red, Gap may be exploiting this opportunity in order to revive its damaged image from the past from allegations of child labour and indecent working conditions, this is an unethical thing from them.

Targeting the responsible consumer is only a segment of a whole responsible brand approach- resources must also be dedicated to improving business practices within the sector, particularly among the less visible brands.

Advertising - Carla C. J. M. Millar and Chong Ju Choi, 2003 Advertising adds to the brand strength, not just creating an ability to recognise goods from a certain origin, but actually inducing consumers to attribute value, to believe in the brand and to take action, such as purchase it, purchase more, use it, use it differently. Tacit knowledge of what the product can mean for the consumer is a large part of what the advertising tries to transmit. Thus there is a knowledge-like intangible benefit which advertising transmits and does so for cars and clothes as well as paintings. Its role as knowl edge intermediary however increases in the case of goods and services which are themselves intangible.

Subliminal advertisement is manipulative because it acts on us without our knowledge, and hence without our consent. If an ad appears on TV, we can tune it out or change stations if we do not want to be subject to it. If an ad appears in a magazine, we are not forced to look at it. In either case, if we do not choose to look or listen, we can consciously evaluate what we see and hear. We can, if we wish, take a critical stance toward the advertisement. All of this is impossible with subliminal advertising. Because we are unaware that we are being subjected to the message. The advertiser is imposing his or her message on us without our knowledge and consent (DeGeorge, 1995, p.262)

Consumer experience – Product Red is a social good and consumers respond backNelson (1970) first distinguished between search and experience goods. The quality of search goods such as commodities including cheap clothing or vegetables can be ascertained before purchase; while the quality of experience goods, such as holidays, restaurants can only be learned after consumption. Darby and Kami (1973) introduced a third category, that of credence goods, the quality of which is rarely learned. Examples of such goods include the worth of a financial advisor on stock market investments, the advice given by lawyers, and medical treatment received on hospitalisation for a non-specific illness (Choi and Hilton, 1995). Cultural goods such as media, music, arts and film also mostly fall under the third category of "credence" goods. As mentioned earlier, globalisation, ICT and internet have created an increase in intangible values being part of all industries, not just traditional cultural industries. We introduce a fourth category, to supplement the existing categories of search, experience and credence goods* We posit that in today's glob alised society account also needs to be taken of a category of what we will call "social goods". Here, in fact, no single consumer knows the value.

Whilst credence goods' value can still be driven by a business economics type of rationale, with social goods society-as-a-whole, the com munity determines the value of the good or service, not a one single person. The market price is not determined by a seller, or dealer, but by the "social market" of the community as a whole. The concept of "social goods" can extend to the quality or value of a political decision, the value of the monarchy, the post-traumatic value of Enron, etc. - all "issues" or "social goods" that advertising or Public Relations may have to service. It also shows the increasingly important role of society, social embeddedness (Granovetter, 1985) and network effects (Giddens, 1998).

The CAP Code (CAP, 2003) standards stating that advertising "should be 'legal', 'decent', 'honest, 'truthful' " do not at this stage help because one is not sure whether the material one is producing is "legal", "decent", "honest", "truthful", and the second criterion of "should be prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society" (CAP, 2003) only adds to one's uncertainty by introducing a subjective criterion without any guidance as to what factors might help resolve any personal dilemmas or doubts.

Advertising is a significant intermediary.

Marketers are portrayed as cultural engineers, organizing how people think and feel through branded commercial products. Omnipotent corporations use sophisticated marketing techniques to seduce consumers to participate in a system of commodified meanings embedded in brands

If an advertisement (or advertising campaign) leaves the consumer with an impression and/or belief different from what would normally be expected if the consumer had reasonable knowledge, and that impression and/or belief is factually untrue or potentially misleading, then deception is said to exist (Gardner, 1975, pp.40-46)

Culture as a commodityLikewise, consumer culture is organized around the principle of obeisance to the cultural authority of marketers. People who have internalized the consumer culture implicitly grant firms the authority to organize their tastes. Horkheimer and Adorno's ([1944] 1996) chapter on what they term the "culture industries" is the locus classicus for these ideas. They assert that the system of mass cultural production, a set of techniques for rationalizing culture as commodity, is the ideological glue that maintains broad con-sensual participation in advanced capitalist society. By the time they wrote this chapter, Horkheimer and Adorno (1996) had given up on the emancipatory politics of marxism.

The dependence effect:Advertising is not only used to give information on products, but sometimes used to create need in the society for a certain product.

Economic argument:

1. Value of goods is associated with desires of customers2. Customers are the best judges to decide what satisfies them better

Galbraith’s argument:

The higher level of production has merely a higher level of want creation, necessitating a higher level of want satisfaction.

In the way to do good does product red exploit the dependence of the people on these products? Is this morally correct? No.

Vance Packard,The Hidden Persuaders, 1957

Influencing customer choice by playing on natural human desires for security, acceptance and self-esteem.

Risk of overemphasising or underestimating this influence

Legitimate persuasion Immoral behaviour control