Criticisms of marketing

Marketing has many legitimate uses including discovering what products people want, informing people about valuable products and services, and generating revenue for charitable organizations. On the other hand however, its techniques have often been used for morally dubious purposes by businesses, governments, and criminals.

Many people feel that marketing, like any other technology, is essentially amoral : it can be used for good or evil, but the technique itself is not ameniable to ethical analysis. But there are many critics of modern marketing and management techniques that see a systemic social evil inherent in the discipline (see No Logo or Marxism). Marketing is accused of creating ruthless exploitation of both consumers and workers. It is claimed that it turns people into commodities, objects whose purpose is to consume (see consumer).

see also: marketing, Marxism