Abstract

Marketers are trained to help consumers solve their problems, from mundane decisions such as what to eat for dinner to complex matters such as how to care for an aging parent. In return for this help, individuals willingly “give back” to the marketing organization by, for example, buying their products and services, remaining loyal to these products and services, and promoting them via word of mouth. While this exchange process is—or at least, should be—at the heart of marketing as a philosophy, a discipline, and an organizational function, we increasingly hear of this exchange as imbalanced, favoring business, and hurting both people and planet.