Societal responsibility of marketing is a marketing concept that holds that a company should make marketing decisions not only by considering consumers' wants, the company's requirements, but also society's long-term interests.
The societal marketing concept holds that an organisation should provide products for consumers while building revenue using profit and at the same time, also benefitting the society by producing sustainable and benefitting-to-the-society products. Therefore, marketers must endeavor to satisfy the needs and wants of their target markets in ways that preserve and enhance the well-being of consumers and society as a whole. It is closely linked with the principles of corporate social responsibility and of sustainable development.
Definition Societal marketing can be defined as a "marketing with a social dimension or marketing that includes non-economic criteria".Handelman, Jay M. and Arnold, Stephen J., "The Role of Marketing Actions with a Social Dimension: Appeals to the Institutional Environment," Journal of Marketing, Vol. 63, No. 3, July, 1999, pp 33-48 Societal marketing "concerns for society's long term interests".Elliot, G.R., "The Marketing Concept: Necessary but sufficient? An environmental view," European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 24, No. 8, pp.23-30, https://doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000000612 It is about "the direct benefits for the organization and secondary benefit for the community".McColl-Kennedy, J., Kiel, G., Lusch, R. and Lusch, V., Marketing: Concepts and Strategies, Nelson Australia, Melbourne, 2001, Societal marketing distinguishes between the consumer's immediate satisfaction and longer term consumer and social benefits. Accordingly, Andreas Kaplan defines societal management as "management that takes into account society's overall welfare in addition to mere profitability considerations." It is a 3 dimensional concept of marketing – social welfare, individual welfare, organization profit
Objectives Various attempts to define the objectives of societal marketing have been noted,Gaski, J.F., "Dangerous Territory: The societal marketing concept revisited", Business Horizons, Vol. 28, No. 4, pp 42-47 such as: "Social responsibility implies that a business decision maker. is obliged to take actions that also protect and enhance society's interests. "Business has the responsibility to help [the consumer] .It is the duty of business to promote proper consumption values." "Business leaders are not mandated to adopt roles of leadership in the advancement of our society to new levels of moral conduct."They may help in mutual understanding of the reasons
History The concept of societal marketing emerged in the early 1970s, promoting a more socially responsible, moral and ethical model of marketing in an effort to counter some of the more serious criticisms of marketing that had arisen out of the consumerist movement around that time.Crane, A. and Desmond, J., "Societal marketing and morality", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 36, No. 5/6, pp548-569, https://doi.org/10.1108/03090560210423014
Philip Kotler is generally credited with introducing the societal marketing concept to the literature in a 1972 article "What Consumerism Means for Marketers" in the Harvard Business Review of 1972.Blackwell Reference, http://www.blackwellreference.com/public/tocnode?id=g9780631233176_chunk_g978140510254422_ss1-48 Certainly Kotler believed that he had coined the term, "societal marketing" and was the first to codify it within the marketing literature.Kotler, P., "What Consumerism Means for Marketers," Harvard Business Review, Vol. 50, No. 3, May–June, 1972, pp. 48-57 Some marketing historians, notably Wilkie and Moore, have argued that a societal perspective was not new, and that evidence for it could be found in marketing theory and in marketing texts, since the discipline's inception in the early 1900s.Wilkie, W.L. and Moore, E.S., "Macromarketing as a Pillar of Marketing Thought," Journal of Macromarketing, Vol. 26 No. 2, December 2006, pp 224-232 DOI: 10.1177/0276146706291067; Wilkie, W. L. and Moore, E.S., "Scholarly Research in Marketing: Exploring the “4 Eras” of Thought Development," Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Vol. 22, No. 2, 2003, pp 116–146 Kotler introduced both the concept of social marketing (extending marketing technologies into non-business areas) and societal marketing, arguing that the marketing concept and its technologies must be tempered and ultimately revised by adopting a more explicit social orientation.Crane, A. Desmond, J., "Societal marketing and morality", European Journal of Marketing, 2002, Vol 36, No. 5/6, pp 48-569 The novelty of Kotler's concept was the idea of "long-run consumer welfare", emphasizing that the short-term desires might not support the consumer's long term interests or be good for the society as a whole.
The societal marketing concept adopts the position that marketers have a greater social responsibility than simply satisfying customers and providing them with superior value. Instead, marketing activities should strive to benefit society's overall well-being. Marketing organisations that have embraced the societal marketing concept typically identify key stakeholder groups including: employees, customers, local communities, the wider public and government and consider the impact of their activities on all stakeholders. They ensure that marketing activities do not damage the environment and are not hazardous to broader society. Societal marketing developed into sustainable marketing.Kotler, P and Armstrong, G., Principles of Marketing, 9th ed., Prentice Hall, 2000; Griffin, R.W. and Ebert, E.J., Business 5th edition, Prentice Hall, 1998 Societal marketing requires businesses to include social, ethical and ecological considerations in product and market planning.Abratt, Russell and Sacks, Diane, "Perceptions of the Societal Marketing Concept", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 23, No. 6, 1989, pp. 25–33
Instruments Kotler identified four categories of products, classified in terms of long term benefits and immediate satisfaction:Kotler, P., "What Consumerism Means for Marketers," Harvard Business Review, Vol. 50, May–June, pp. 54-56
Deficient products, which bring neither long-run or short term benefits Pleasing products, which bring a high level of immediate satisfaction, but can cause harm to the society in the long run Salutary products, which bring low short term satisfaction, but benefit the society in the long run Desirable products, which combine long-run benefit and immediate satisfaction
Kotler's concept of societal marketing suggested that for the well-being of society, deficient products should be eliminated from the market, pleasing and salutary products should go through a product modification process to acquire desirable status, by incorporating missing short term benefits into salutary products and long term benefits into pleasing products, and the companies' ultimate goal should be to develop desirable products. Rather than focusing on selling products, which can be good or bad for the consumers, companies should focus on consumer and society's well-being.
Examples Most companies recognize that socially responsible activities improve their image among customers, stockholders, the financial community, and other relevant publics. Ethical and socially responsible practices are simply good business, resulting not only in favorable image, but ultimately in increased sales.
The Body Shop: The Body Shop International plc is the original, natural and ethical beauty brand. The company uses only plant-based materials for its products. It is against Animal testing, supports community trade, activate Self Esteem, Defend Human Rights, and overall protection of the planet. They have also their own charity, The Body Shop Foundation, to assist those working to achieve progress in the areas of human and civil rights, environmental and animal protection. Thus Body shop is really following the concept of Societal Marketing.The Body Shop, www.thebodyshop.com/_en/_ww/services/aboutus_company.aspx) AVON Product inc. has started an initiative known as Avon breast cancer awareness crusade in 1993 in partnership with National Alliance of breast cancer Foundation (NABCO).They started selling pink ribbon pins which depicts the international symbol for breast cancer for$2 and donates $1 to NABCO. Through the crusade, Avon sales representatives have raised billion of dollars for breast cancer education and access to early detection services for underserved women. In addition, Avon's 45,000 US salespeople have been trained to discuss breast cancer and the importance of early detection with their customers and distributed 80 million flyers on breast cancer detection.Bloom N. Paul and Gundlach T. Gregory, Handbook of Marketing and Society, Sage publications, 2001 Coca-Cola: Coca-Cola is an American multi-national carbonated beverage. The company manufactures and retails of nonalcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups. It also produces soft drinks such as Tab, Fanta, and sprite. Fanta was originally an orange-based soft drink in bottle and can. In 2004, it published the song 'America is Beautiful' in different languages. It shows cultural harmony from a large point of view.
Societal marketing v social marketing Societal marketing should not be confused with social marketing. Societal marketing is a philosophy or mindset that informs marketing decisions whereas social marketing is a distinct branch within the marketing discipline. Societal marketing is concerned with the consideration of the social and ethical aspects of marketing planning. Social marketing is concerned with facilitating social change. A key difference is that the greater 'social good' is the principal consideration in social marketing while social benefits are one of a number of considerations in societal marketing.
On the other hand, social marketing is a sub-branch of marketing that began in 1971, with the publication of an article by Kotler and Zaltman, emphasising a planned approach to achieving social change. It is primarily concerned with encouraging pro-social behaviours (e.g. recycling, sun-safety, safe driving practices) and discouraging anti-social behaviours (e.g. littering, drink-driving).Kotler P and Zaltman G., "Social Marketing: An Approach to Planned Social Change," Journal of Marketing, Vol. 35. No. 3, 1971, pp 3-12 It is defined as an "adaptation of commercial marketing technologies to programs designed to influence the voluntary behavior of target audiences to improve their personal welfare and that of the society of which they are a part".Andreasen, A., Marketing Social Change: Changing Behavior to Promote Health, Social Development and the Environment, San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 1995