Marketing and consumer wellbeing summary:
Lecture 1:
All think marketing is about buying etc, overconsumption. How can we balance between sustaining
and consuming and what role we can play a role in this as a marketing manager.
“Without consumption—at least at the basic level of air, water, food, and shelter—life ceases” (Mick
et al. 2012, p3).
However …. although consumption is a critical determinant of consumer well-being
in many western societies ……
Although consumption is a critical determinant of consumer well-being—a state of flourishing that
involves health, happiness, and prosperity—in many western societies, consumption levels have
increased to an extent that they actually are deteriorating individual and collective well-being: the
overconsumption of fossil energy contributes to environmental pollution and global warming; the
overconsumption of food and the associated obesity epidemic contribute to the dramatic increase in
the direct and indirect costs of health care.
In response to the negative implications of the overconsumption of goods and services, firms are
increasingly held accountable. Specifically, a growing number of firms experience an increasing
pressure to improve their business practices to help address negative implications resulting from the
overconsumption of goods and services and contribute to individual and collective well-being by
supporting and promoting healthy and sustainable lifestyles, helping consumers make more healthful
food choices, use energy more efficiently or for example use renewable energy sources (e.g. solar)
instead of fossil fuels.
Upon completion of the course the student is able to, objectives:
• define and describe the historical perspective on and contextual understanding of the role of
marketing in improving societal and consumer well-being, while at the same time
acknowledging and identifying practices that negatively contributed to societal and
consumer well-being;
• explain why and how marketing is an effective discipline to help improve societal and
consumer well-being, while at the same time contributing to the firm’s bottom-line;
• apply theoretical insights in order to develop and test strategies and tactics that offer win-
win solutions for the firm and consumers.
Schedule: every week lecture and second week twice. Tutorial there to get the data for the
assignment and how to do this. Week before Christmas last time feedback individual feedback to the
group, also possible online. Then rap it up last lecture after Christmas and tutorial to present the final
version.
During this course you will work on your own project to increase consumer well-being. The project
should be related to topics covered in this course, i.e. either the field of health or
sustainability/energy transition (make the world a better place). It should cover health or
sustainability one of the two topics. The project can, but does not have to be designed in cooperation
with a company, it can be a website around a certain topic, a mobile application or another type of
intervention targeted at consumers to make them change their behavior. Also assignment with
theory and the choices we made in there. Somehow use data, collect and use it, tutorial 1.
,Company partners for the assignment, tasty basics products and foundation against food waste.
Starting with the content from the first lecture:
Literature for all sessions: Inaugural speech https://www.rug.nl/staff/k.van.ittersum/oratieengels.pdf
Also the foundation of this course. He is the marketing chairman and then he could start a new
course which is this.
This lecture three specific articles, see the end of each week for the articles. Burroughs & Reynolds.
Marketing, can it make you buy goods/services you don’t need?
At the end of the course, if you understand what marketing is all about then the two say the same
thing. When you assume its about needs of consumers and deliver as a company, good for individual
but also for society, if you understand this then also understand why they say the same thing.
Key/central proposition: Marketers who take the well-being of consumers at heart can improve their
own financial well-being as well as the well-being of consumers.
Not only about profitability also about well being when it maybe only doesn’t cost money.
1. Critical concepts & Definitions: Marketing, Consumer behavior, Consumer well-being &
Corporate social responsibility
Marketing: “Business activities involved in the flow of goods and services from production to
consumption.” (American Marketing Association 1937). -> This is more selling, no consumer involved.
Consumer had nothing to want, we have the product, take it or leave it. Over time this changed.
“Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering,
and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.”
(American Marketing Association 2007). -> Customer is explicitly mentioned and ‘at large’. We
cannot push products on to people because its not the way to go for. This more newer definition is
probably from 2007, feels like yesterday. 60’s there was a movement social marketing, using
marketing for a better place, but until 2007 the definition was formalized and broadened. The
American Marketing Association is the biggest there from this perspective, critical.
,Consumer behavior: is about purchasing consumption
and disposing of goods and services. Everything related
to goods and services, buying process, how in market
place, how people use it and disposal (food but many
companies now forced to think ‘what is cell phones are
transforming again…’.
Two broad perspectives on consumer well-being (Ryan
& Deci 2001)
(1) hedonic perspective,
(2) a eudaimonic perspective.
The hedonic perspective focuses on happiness and defines consumer well-being in terms of pleasure
attainment and pain avoidance. I want to be happy, eliminate the pain, frustration and be happy.
Most roads in life lead to happiness.
The eudaimonic perspective focuses on the actualization of human potentials and defines consumer
well-being in terms of the degree to which people are realizing their true nature. Focus and helping
people get the most out of themselves. For cars, buy this car and you are fast and look cool (happy
and happy). Or: certain features to contribute to the environment, this is maybe expensive (not
happy only).
One of the examples from lecture 5 or 6, put more pressure on tires because it saves money or
better environment?
How does this relate to health and energy? Health:
1. The WHO definition of health as complete wellbeing is no longer fit for purpose given the rise
of chronic disease. So with a disease is not health.
2. Machteld Huber and colleagues propose changing the emphasis towards the ability to adapt
and self manage in the face of social, physical, and emotional challenges. Not only physical
and mental alone, also the ability to adapt and self manage. Not only physical, like in a
wheelchair, you can have a very healthy life still. Difference between hedonic, black and
white (pain avoidance, issue is unhappy) versus broader perspective and through nature,
wheelchair doesn’t mean your true nature (maybe certain things you cant do but other
things that you can do).
Energy:
1. Energy consumption and changing norms. All pain when we lower the energy bill or
temperature in the classroom. Eudemonic we want to lower the bill, contribute to a more
sustainable environment. From energy perspective eudemonic isn’t always comfortable. But
its food for though. A mix between the two.
2. Energy transition – prosumers, peaks-balancing
3. Interventions & Feedback
These three, change behavior by changing norms, solar panels (first point). Social norm, when you
can afford it it’s a good thing to do. Second, energy transition, prosumers not only consume but also
back in the system. And interventions and feedback also change behavior and improve.
, Tesla example: very cool design and a lot invested so also hedonic. Who cares about what it can do.
Eudemonic: we don’t need this car, plenty of others. When we do this to do our share to the
environment it would be purely eudemonic.
Who is to blame for negative consequences of overconsumption?
Marketing sometimes negative image. Who is to blame here. As discipline marketing has
responsibilities, but we as consumers as well. Supermarkets are not doing a great job, they should
remove candy from the cash register. Okay lets do this, then they should remove all candy,
unhealthy. People want it. chips also unhealthy, see where this goes. When is enough really enough.
Maybe let supermarkets only sell healthy things, then we go somewhere else and supermarkets go
broke. Marketing identifies needs and wants and deliver. Most of us like sweet cheap stuff, like
action is terrible. Most is crap, but we go there, also have good stuff sometimes, buy and get rid of it
without thinking if you really need it.
Marketing should be more responsible? Consumers will find the junk somewhere else and same
again. So consumers also responsibility. Most of us don’t want to be told what to do, opportunities
taken away we don’t like, and we show opposite behavior of what people want. COVID: people
freedom taken away, with time and the consequences going down the willingness to help goes
down. Candy away from the store, or supermarket or government tells us not to consume, then we
find another way.
This is from Kotler, examples of bad marketing practices. Still
happen these.
1. Marketing get consumers to want and spend more than
they can afford (via credit cards, loans);
2. Marketers are skilled at creating brand differentiation
among products that are essentially homogenous;
3. Marketers want to produce and sell more goods without considering the resource and
environmental costs; (true pricing is the idea the true price takes the harm and extra
resources usually not directly paying into consideration)
4. Marketing had not paid enough attention to product safety until the likes of Ralph Nader
appeared; (nowadays little better maybe)
5. Marketers favor giving the public what it wants whether it is good or bad for them; (NL for
instance with exercising, alcohol consumption etc, gambling is all there, only one of the few
where international companies can also host, also national lottery system)
6. Marketers promote a materialistic mindset;
7. Marketers rarely talk about sane consumption; (normal portions or not, unconscious
overconsuming for instance 100 ml is 300 kcal and then 500 ml in bottle)
8. Marketers are increasing their information about each of us.
Marketers can make you purchase ideas, goods, or services that you do not want or need?
Want to be part of a group. And at same time be unique. Within Apple crowd we want to stand out
ourselves.