Adventures in Misplaced Marketing

The modern marketing concept, with its focus on creating consumer satisfaction, makes marketing seem beyond reproach. Instead of its successes and failures, Rotfeld focuses on the uses, and frequent abuses, of marketing analysis. His book--a collection of clearly observed and forceful case studies drawn from his personal research and study--deals with the pragmatic realities of marketing and its limitations. He argues that marketing can only serve consumer predispositions. It cannot guarantee satisfaction. When marketers lose sight of this, they actually ignore their market. Rotfeld takes the unusual approach of providing a fundamental view of the relationship between marketing and its customers. He shows what can happen when that relationship is misperceived or its implications are mistaken. Marketing gets misplaced. For marketing practitioners and academics, his book is a unique study of how marketing and consumers interact. As Rotfeld explains: Misplaced Marketing is a term I coined, using `marketing' to refer to the marketing analysis of consumers and `misplaced' to mean either `lost' or `ignored.' Many firms `misplace' marketing in the sense of losing track of what it is and what it can do; many not-for-profit organizations do not use marketing in a way that could improve the results of their efforts. Just because marketing is satisfying consumers does not mean it is above reproach, since Al Capone satisfied many consumers too. Moreover, there are critics who fear marketing power and feel that any service to consumers is a problem for society. This is misplaced marketing in the sense that it is misused, abused, or tied to products that do not serve society's interests. Just because marketing perspectives are misplaced does not mean a product or service will fail, nor does it mean it should be banned. My book gives a perspective to understand the view of business critics and ways to improve business decision-making. The book also provides an unusual examination of the entire relationship of business to its customers.

Table of Contents:
Preface Myths and Legends of the Modern Marketing Concept Sell, Sell, Sell: The Modern Production Orientation of Marketing Companies--"The marketing concept? That's just an abstraction?" Hobson's Choices in the Marketplace Without Bad Service, There Wouldn't be any Service at All Advertising only a Copywriter would Love Opportunities Lost: Pitfalls by Arrogant Ignorance--"We know what we're doing. Trust us." Hey Gang, Let's put on a Show! A Trade Association Serving Itself Government "Serving" the Consumers' Interests Problems of Just Satisfying Consumer Needs--"We're providing a service people want, just like Al Capone." Self-Regulation as a Marketing Tool We'd Rather you didn't do That Fear of Marketing The "Wrong" Benefits I: Politics and Popular Culture The "Wrong" Benefits II: Schools and Education Explanations and Criticisms by Misplaced Marketing--"Why are you doing that?!!" Hiring the Wrong "Right" Person The Spam Incentive The Limits of Spam Before you Decide, get out of the Office Concluding Notes It's just Misplaced Marketing

About the Author :
HERBERT JACK ROTFELD is Professor of Marketing at Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama./e Noted for iconoclastic research and his challenges to conventional wisdom and commonly held presumptions about business practices and theories, Dr. Rotfeld is a 2000 recipient of the American Academy of Advertising's Outstanding Contribution to Advertising award. He lectures widely around the world, has been a faculty visitor at universities in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, and is a respected scholar of advertising regulation and self-regulation. He is currently the editor of the Journal of Comsumer Affairs and a section editor for the Journal of Consumer Marketing.

Review :
.,."a thought-provoking presentation that differs substantially from traditional marketing books in style and content. Rotfeld's wit makes this a fun book to read. Recommended for students, faculty, and practitioners alike. Upper-division undergraduate through professional collections."-Choice ?...a thought-provoking presentation that differs substantially from traditional marketing books in style and content. Rotfeld's wit makes this a fun book to read. Recommended for students, faculty, and practitioners alike. Upper-division undergraduate through professional collections.?-Choice ?Adventures in Misplaced Marketing takes a realistic, but not pessimistic, view of the marketing concept and its applications across a range of marketing activities, including its recent adoption in many non-traditional and non-commercial fields....this book should be prescribed as compulsory reading for all graduating marketing majors as a reality check. The promotion of the marketing approach as a universal solution to commercial and social problems limits the ability of many to consider, and respect, aleternative perspectives, but by openly raising concerns about the limitations of marketing in such an accessible and readable way, this book goes some way towards addressing this tendency of marketers to be too inwardly focussed.?-Journal of Consumer Marketing ..."a thought-provoking presentation that differs substantially from traditional marketing books in style and content. Rotfeld's wit makes this a fun book to read. Recommended for students, faculty, and practitioners alike. Upper-division undergraduate through professional collections."-Choice "Adventures in Misplaced Marketing takes a realistic, but not pessimistic, view of the marketing concept and its applications across a range of marketing activities, including its recent adoption in many non-traditional and non-commercial fields....this book should be prescribed as compulsory reading for all graduating marketing majors as a reality check. The promotion of the marketing approach as a universal solution to commercial and social problems limits the ability of many to consider, and respect, aleternative perspectives, but by openly raising concerns about the limitations of marketing in such an accessible and readable way, this book goes some way towards addressing this tendency of marketers to be too inwardly focussed."-Journal of Consumer Marketing