Post on 23-Feb-2023
CONSUMERISM AND SUSTAINABILITY: A POINT OF VIEW BEYOND SOCIAL MARKETING
Afonso Carlos Braga
1, Arnoldo Jose de Hoyos Guevara
1
1 School of Management, Pontifical Catholic University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
( E-mail: afonsobraga@terra.com.br, arnoldodehoyos@yahoo.com.br )
Abstract
This paper deals with a perceived conflicting paradox between consumerism and sustainability based on
a comprehensive bibliographic research that enabled an assessment if the planet limitations to provide
resources can influence business strategies that aim the continuous company growth in a finite planet.
Moreover, brings a point of view of the role of the Marketing Department in providing inputs in the
strategic long term planning of those companies to shape the future of its organization as well as the
trend setter group of professionals that bring and shape the sustainability drivers to the business. Part of
the analysis revealed that while the Marketing Department has limited power or voice to influence
business decisions, the ‘greener’ initiatives like Social Marketing, Sustainable Marketing and
Sustainable Consumption has potential to either evolve to or incorporate a new concept, the ‘Conscious
Marketing’. The paper will illustrate that this innovative marketing concept has a greater opportunity to
be kicked off at the academic level in Universities and Business School that will reinforce the relevance
of the theme and help to build in the students, a new generation of professionals, the knowledge that this
is a finite planet with limited resources and that the humanity need to revisit its consumption standards
to ensure living conditions to the future generations.
Keywords: Social Marketing, Sustainable Marketing, Conscious Marketing, Consumerism,
Sustainability
Introduction
Throughout the twentieth century the discipline of marketing has emerged, gained importance and
visibility, and is today one of the strategic areas in most leading enterprises around the world. The use of
a number of marketing tools such as Segmentation and Positioning (LAS CASAS, 2006), or the study
and understanding of the Company and Marketing Strategy (KOTLER and ARMSTRONG, 2007), and
even research and models from psychology like Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (1943), form a complex
framework that is multi-faceted and with a wide range of approaches which lead to a marketing
discipline that can be applied from a more intuitive approach to a scientific and structured manner. Such
breadth of applications and theories, allied to the interpretations of these tools made by companies,
provided an evolution of the marketing theories and, eventually, the evolution of the modern society
pushed by consumerism (instead of consumption), thus conflicting with some of the principles and
precepts of sustainability (BAUMAN, 2007 2001; GUEVARA, 2008). Moreover, marketing can
sometimes get confused with sales/selling, as defined by Drucker (1973): “The aim of marketing is to
know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits them and sells itself.”
The central question of this paper is: the development of research and theories about Social Marketing
are also provoking discussions about a possible paradox between consumerism and sustainability?
The task of gathering information, theories and literature, associated with the discussion of the concepts
of topics such as marketing, sales, consumer, corporate responsibility, etc. brings up attention for a still
not very clear reality for now entitled as ‘conscious marketing’. Why is that? Because there are already
recognized concepts like conscious consumption (BALLANTINE & CREERY, 2009; AKATU
RESEARCH, 2012), sustainable consumption (PHIPPS et al, 2012; JACKSON, 2005), social marketing
(DANN, 2009; PEATTIE & PEATTIE, 2008), sustainable marketing (GORDON, R; CARRIGAN, M.;.
HASTINGS, G., 2011), etc., but nothing that directly addresses the possible paradox of educating future
generations to consume solely the necessary to maintain a good quality of life with a view to preserving
the planet.
For example, a Google search selecting the words ‘conscious consumption’, aggregated in that order,
generated the following result: "about 738,000 results (0.32 seconds)". When doing this same search
with the words ‘conscious marketing’ the result was: "about 2,870 results (0.31 seconds)", i.e., 0.4%
related subjects compared to conscious consumption. Focusing on the academy, the same search on
Google Scholar brought the following results: 4,100 cases for ‘conscious consumption’ and 53 for
‘conscious marketing’, i.e. 1.3%. The conclusion is that both in academia and in the general society
there is a big gap in terms of studies and/or professional practice on the central theme of this paper,
eventually a new marketing concept to be explored. So this may be a first step for future theses and
studies for a potential new concept in marketing.
Theoretical Rationale
The interpretation in selected marketing concepts
The second part of this article covered a critical reading whether some of the most popular theories of
marketing and administration has a tendency to encourage consumerism or if those theories are biased
and interpreted accordingly to corroborate with the basic guideline of ‘ad infinitum corporate growth’.
Starting with the market segmentation, an important marketing tool to orient investment focus,
according to Schiffman and Kanuk (2000) it can be defined as: “the process of dividing a market into
distinct subsets of consumers with common needs or characteristics and selecting one or more segments,
to which companies can deliver a distinctive marketing mix (product or service)”. That means, when
targeting a group the marketer can focus on a specific target audience for which his/her service and/or
product are differentiated, relevant and meets the clients’ needs.
In order to fulfil the consumers’ needs an executive area has to understand their behavior by conducting
analysis of a number of influencing factors such as: product/service usage, what kind of need is being
met, external factors (brand, status), internal factors (motivation, attitude), etc. Las Casas (2006) defines
the analysis of the customers’ behavior as follows: "an interdisciplinary marketing subject that deals
with various areas of knowledge such as economics, psychology, anthropology, sociology and
communication". So here begins the inevitable complexity and the interpretation, which is part of day to
day activities of marketing, a discipline that is not hard science but rather an applied science (among
those who accept this definition). In short, the interpretation is an intrinsic part of the function and
which marketeer has not heard at least once in his/her career the following statement: "go ahead with
this new campaign. My wife and my mother saw the rough material prepared by the creative team and
felt great about it!" So subjectivity is part of the interpretation in marketing, however subjectivity is not
addressed in this article and it is not a point of discussion, it only strengthens the argument that there is
interpretation in marketing.
Positioning a product or service turns out to be one of the most important tasks of the marketing
department of any company after all it is either the brand message, the brand personality or product
differential that the organization want to communicate. Each customer has a unique perception of the
world around him/her and the role of the positioning is to “fix in the customer's head the brand message
the company wants”. (LAS CASAS, 2006)
Furrier and Serralvo (2004) define positioning as "the process of studying, defining and implementing
differentiated value propositions that provide competitive brand advantage, relative to the competition in
a category, considering the audience’s point of view and perception of the advantage".
The best known tool to position a brand is the communication, more specifically advertising, which has
the role of transmitting the concepts and images of the manufacturer’s product/service. A reinforcement
on the argument that the marketing department has the ability as well as the function of interpreting
(eventually manipulate?) the entire communication arsenal to position and build a brand image.
Moving on the interpretation rationale, in the chapter in which Kotler and Armstrong (2007) present the
subject ‘Company and Marketing Strategy’, despite the use of models, theories and practical studies, yet
there is room for discussion. Kotler presents one of the most popular models used by the departments of
numerous companies in various sectors, the Boston Consulting Group matrix (BCG), as illustrated in
Figure 1. To allocate brands and products in the respective quadrants it is usual to make use of surveys,
client data, secondary market data, etc. However, in the end, it is the interpretation of a marketeer, his
team and superiors that define the analysis and mainly the actions that will be made based on the matrix.
Figure 1: BCG Matrix
Source: www.quickmba.com/strategy/matrix/bcg/, access in 24 June 2014
Another important concept is the well known hierarchy of needs of Maslow (1943) that this is one of the
most referenced papers in the academy and wide used in marketing theories and books as it allows to
better understanding what type of consumer need can be met by a particular product or service. One can
evaluate if a product or service meets a number of needs, ranging from physiological to psychological,
that are survival, safety/security, social needs, esteem or self-actualization, as illustrated in Figure 2.
This article hypothesizes that some marketing driven companies, possibly more evident on those that
deal in the luxury market, while 'interpreting' how to meet the consumers’ needs may conclude that to
improve their self-esteem, self-trust, etc. part of the target audience should get product X, because this is
the most used by 'Hollywood stars'1 passing along to this individual that the ownership of that
commodity will deliver to the buyer the same feeling or visibility, perhaps fame, of that celebrity.
Figure 2: Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
1 Fictitious example of the author, not based on statistics, just to illustrate the example.
Source: http://communicationtheory.org/maslow%E2%80%99s-hierarchy-of-needs/, access on 23 June 2014
The two selected marketing tools or techniques highlighted in the models are mainly used by mass
products, regardless if these are fast moving consumer goods or durables goods, which are the most
visible industrial products and services to the average citizen. In general companies like Neslté,
Unilever, Coca Cola, Apple and even GM, Honda, Hyundai, etc. are the ones that enjoy considerable
global marketing budgets to build their respective brand images and attract the consumers’ purchasing
interest. The Marketing Departments of these mega companies invest around the world a lot in planning,
in market intelligence and in investment for the continuous growth of their businesses, preferably more
than its direct competitors. At the end it will all lead to consumption, eventually consumerism, and the
immediate economic and environmental consequences of the act of the endless purchase of goods.
Sustainability and Marketing
Moving on now to sustainability concepts that are associated to consumption in general, Ballantine and
Creery (2009) depart from Maslow's hierarchy of needs to investigate what they have defined the
‘voluntary simplifiers’. Through in-depth interviews with twelve consumers identified as belonging to
that group, the authors concluded that these consumers are more likely to adopt 'conscious consumption'
because they already have the physiological needs level met. Reinforcing this point Akatu’s Research
(2012) presented on the topline results that to reach the conscious consumption level "it would be
desirable to seek the 'sweet spot' of the relationship between the welfare generated and the human
resources and materials allocated to get to it. Creating conditions for this to happen collectively, on a
large scale, is what is expected from enterprises and governments that are truly committed to sustainable
happiness of their societies." It turns out however that there is much inequality, not only in the
perception of this concept, but also in the proportion of the population that has reached this level of
commitment, due to the unequal distribution of wealth across the planet, as shown by the data from the
Global Inequality Index2 (GINI, 2012) that show a little evolution since the turn of the century, going
from 40.37 in 2000 to 35.75 in 2011.
A closer point of view for the conscious consumption described would be 'sustainable consumption'
2 GINI index measures the extent to which the distribution of income (or, in some cases, consumption expenditure)
among individuals or households within an economy deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. A Lorenz curve
plots the cumulative percentages of total income received against the cumulative number of recipients, starting with
the poorest individual or household. The GINI index measures the area between the Lorenz curve and a hypothetical
line of absolute equality, expressed as a percentage of the maximum area under the line. Thus a GINI index of 0
represents perfect equality, while an index of 100 implies perfect inequality.
which is defined by Phipps et al (2012) as being: “a consumption that simultaneously optimizes the
environmental, social and economic consequences of acquisition, use and disposition in order to meet
the needs of both current and future generations”. This definition is the one most commonly associated
and already adopted by numerous companies and corporations, the ‘triple bottom line’ as it addresses
that are sustainable solutions that seek positive outcomes in social, economic and environmental areas.
In the search of practical and political solutions, Jackson (2005) has developed an extensive research to
study the way to establish policies that may lead to conscious consumption. The proposal defines this
type of consumption as: [...] examples of such behaviors include: the recycling of household wastes,
purchase of ‘sustainable’ products, using energy efficient appliances, choosing green
electricity tariffs, composting garden and kitchen waste, investing in ‘ethical’ funds,
conserving water or energy, buying organic food, returning electrical goods for re-
use or recycling, switching transport mode, changing travel behavior, buying
remanufactured or reused goods, reducing material consumption, pursuing
‘voluntary simplicity’ and so on. (JACKSON, 2005)
Part of the marketeers’ job is to understand the customers and their consumption patterns to design
marketing plans and marketing strategies for theirs corporations. Therefore, it is expected that the
concepts of ‘conscious consumption’ and ‘sustainable consumption’ would generate studies,
commercial tools and definitions about ‘social marketing’ and ‘sustainable marketing’. In fact, a number
of authors developed papers, book chapters, etc. about those topics, like Ken and Sue Peattie from
Cardiff, UK, that have been conducting for almost a decade specific research about social marketing.
According to Peattie and Peattie (2008), social marketing initiatives should bring to the business arena
an alternative approach to marketing for sustainability, on their own terms, “social marketing seeks to
utilize tools, techniques and concepts derived from commercial marketing in pursuit of social goals”,
notwithstanding reinforcing Andreasen (2006) that earlier stated a similar definition and affirmed:
“social marketing is about making a better world for all of us”. Moreover, Dann (2009) produced a
paper with a comprehensive research of the most used contemporary commercial definitions of social
marketing with the aim to redefine its definition. The conclusion of his work was: “the adaptation or
adoption of commercial marketing activities, institutions and processes as means to induce behavioral
change in a targeted audience on a temporary or permanent basis to achieve a social goal”.
One of the goals of this paper was to understand if social marketing is sufficient to address the
sustainability challenges the planet is facing, but at the end, social is too broad and can range from
obesity to ethical behavior. Considering that a new concept could be considered, the ‘sustainable
marketing’, that by literally making the use of the word ‘sustainable’ could than nail down towards a
more concrete emphasis in sustainability. The best reference is the paper from Gordon, Carrigan and
Hastings (2011) that in the abstract addresses the fundaments of their work: [...] how sustainable marketing could be achieved through the contribution of three
existing marketing sub-disciplines; green marketing, social marketing and critical
marketing. Green marketing facilitates the development and marketing of more
sustainable products and services while introducing sustainability efforts into the
core of the marketing process and business practice. Social marketing involves using
the power of marketing to encourage sustainable behavior among individuals,
businesses and decision makers while also assessing the impact of current
commercial marketing on sustainability. This links into the critical marketing
paradigm which entails analyses of marketing theory, principles and techniques
using a critical theory based approach. This analysis can help to guide regulation and
control, development of marketing theory and practice, and to challenge the
dominant institutions associated with marketing and the capitalist system,
encouraging a marketing system in which sustainability is a key goal [...]
(GORDON, R; CARRIGAN, M.; HASTINGS, G., 2011)
The authors conceptual paper was to “examine how three dimensions of marketing – green marketing,
social marketing and critical marketing – contribute to a framework for sustainable marketing”,
illustrated on figure 3.
Figure 3: A framework of sustainable marketing
Source: Gordon, Carrigan and Hastings, 2011
In short, the framework proposed by Gordon, Carrigan and Hastings (2011) proposes that to achieve the
‘sustainable marketing’ it is necessary to combine the three elements/concepts of the figure 3. In other
words, bring to the discussion companies and businesses that by developing, launching and supporting
‘greener’ products and services will become more profitable and become desired brands for the long
run. Those corporations will then be more desired brands for the consumers and the 3rd
sector that are
more sympathetic to sustainable products and initiatives that benefit more ecological solutions and
lifestyles. That is also a group with “a good fit given the focus on voluntary behavior change” pointed
out as a key element to move the society to a new consumption pattern. Lastly, Critical Marketing is the
third component required to pull together the other two blocks. The basis come from the Critical Theory
which “task is to simultaneously offer a critique of contemporary society while envisioning solutions to
the problems”. By doing so marketing could bring together markets, institutions and legislators to
promote changes in behavior in the market system to influence production and consumption towards the
sustainability cause.
On its end, the OECD (2002) defined sustainability “as the consumption of goods and services that meet
basic needs and quality of life without jeopardizing the needs of future generations” however none of
the marketing concepts selected up to his point clearly proposed tools or frameworks that could be
immediately identified like the ‘golden marketing rules’ such as segmenting the marketing, brand
positioning, the 4 Ps, etc. That is the reason why this paper suggests being one of the few new voices to
raise the concept of ‘conscious marketing’.
Quantifying the marketing concepts that connects to sustainability
An extensive literature search focused primarily on scientific articles published in Brazil and Globally
was conducted to check how the topics related to sustainability, for example, are being connected
somehow to marketing, if there is a focused or broad point view of about the subject, if it is possible
recognize distinct brand/business positioning considering the most popular jargons, etc. The data
collection confirmed the initial diagnosis of few ‘voices’ about the main theme of this article, as
revealed by the query made on Google Scholar. The search was performed as follows:
Selection of terms (or 'jargon') frequently used by authors based on what they have published
including books, papers, theses, academic research, etc. The following terms were selected:
Social Marketing, Green Marketing, Sustainable Marketing and Conscious Marketing;
Research on two databases: SciELO.org to survey the papers published in Brazil and
ScienceDirect.com for studies published worldwide;
The following filters were applied:
o SciELO limited to Brazil;
o ScienceDirect selected filters were: "TITLE-desi-KEY (Marketing) and TITLE-desi-
KEY (Social) AND LIMIT-TO (topics, ‘social marketing, social medium, social
responsibility, climate change, advertising, marketing’).”
The search was limited to documents from 2000 to 2013 to bring the latest in the subject, to
assess the incidence over this period (increasing, decreasing or stable) and to see if any of the
concepts outlined the others.
Table 1 summarizes all relevant scientific work located since the turn of the century until 2013.
Table 1: Bibliographic Search – Terms that connect Marketing and Sustainability MARKET
JARGON
YEARPapers
(unit)%
Papers
(unit)%
Papers
(unit)%
Papers
(unit)%
Papers
(unit)%
Papers
(unit)%
Papers
(unit)%
Papers
(unit)%
2013 3 10,3% 14 22,2% 0 0,0% 16 20,8% 1 14,3% 11 17,2% 0 1 14,3%
2012 3 10,3% 8 12,7% 3 17,0% 12 15,6% 1 14,3% 8 12,5% 0 2 28,6%
2011 2 6,9% 11 17,5% 0 0,0% 10 13,0% 0 0,0% 6 9,4% 0 0 0,0%
2010 2 6,9% 10 15,9% 0 0,0% 6 7,8% 2 28,6% 10 15,6% 0 1 14,3%
2009 3 10,3% 6 9,5% 2 18,2% 3 3,9% 0 0,0% 4 6,3% 0 0 0,0%
2008 5 17,2% 1 1,6% 0 0,0% 4 5,2% 1 14,3% 4 6,3% 0 2 28,6%
2007 3 10,3% 3 4,8% 0 0,0% 1 1,3% 0 0,0% 2 3,1% 0 1 14,3%
2006 0 0,0% 3 4,8% 0 0,0% 3 3,9% 0 0,0% 3 4,7% 0 0 0,0%
2000 a 2005 8 27,6% 7 11,1% 6 54,5% 22 28,6% 2 28,6% 16 25,0% 0 0 0,0%
TOTAL 29 100% 63 100% 11 90% 77 100% 7 100% 64 100% 0 0% 7 100%
Global Brazil GlobalBrazil Global Brazil Global Brazil
SOCIAL MARKETING GREEN MARKETING SUSTAINABLE MARKETING CONSCIOUS MARKETING
Source: autor’s compilation
The analysis of the figures in Table 1 reinforced that there are few voices discussing the subjects that
motivated the development of this paper. Moreover, it validated the simplistic Google search that
originally reflected the low incidence of the terms 'marketing', 'sustainable', 'conscious', etc.
In terms of international publications there is a balance in the amount of published articles that discuss
'social marketing', with 63 jobs, 'green marketing', 77 articles and 'sustainable marketing', 64 texts. In
comparison with the Brazilian production, 'social marketing' has a reasonable number of studies with 29
items, however there is a big drop when it relates to ‘green marketing' with 11 jobs and with 'sustainable
marketing' with only 7 articles. In fact, the search confirmed that there is little production relating
sustainability directly to marketing activity in general.
The idea of 'conscious marketing' generated the lowest number of texts and papers addressing this topic.
Among the international search only 7 works were located and from 2007 onwards. In the case of Brazil
no articles were published.
Lastly, a quick scanning in most of the titles and abstracts of the articles checked on this search showed
that there is a wide range of use and application of the selected jargons. For example, the term 'social
marketing' can either come dissociated, and yet touch in the critical points highlighted in this paper, or
embark on the marketing the area role of exploring the communication tools advertise the organization’s
initiatives in social actions to reinforce a brand/company image and promote employees engagement.
Consumption and Consumerism, the impact on sustainability
Part of sustainability challenges comes from understanding the difference between ‘consumption’ and
‘consumerism’. The consumption itself must be seen as something trivial, daily business, an activity that
has been accompanying humanity since mankind started to live socially in tribes. Consumption happens
in casual meeting with friends to celebrate something or when people acquire items needed for their
survival, safety, etc. Throughout mankind history consumption activities produced related activities such
as production, transportation, storage, sale and removal of what was consumed and is no longer useful
or desired. However, there was a turning point where there was excess of production and the meaning
for acquiring utensils, food, possessions and essential goods to ensure the welfare of the family was
supplanted by a sense of possession, of owning stuff to show off wealth and/or social status. The
transformation witnessed by society was to perceive that happiness would be achieved by the good
feeling of owning promoting the action of consumption to moments of pleasure, satisfaction and even
self-realization with the purchase of goods. At this precise moment one enters into consumerism.
(BAUMAN, 2007)
A characteristic well noted by Bauman, in addition to the definition above, was that consumerism
gained strength when there was a transition from the society of producers, who sought to produce
security to society through durable goods, property, etc., to the society the accumulation (and
ostentation) of wealth. If at that time the durability of goods was important, in the new order
obsolescence strengthens and happiness may be associated with the moments of consumption, of
purchase. According to Bertman (apud Bauman, 2007), living the moment ends up being a hallmark
nowadays where everything is instantaneous, focused on individualism, a ‘right now culture’ and a
‘hurried culture’. Everything is for now, everything has to come easy and fast, everything is
instantaneous and happiness is obtained by multiplying the number of moments, what Maffesoli (apud
Bauman, 2007) called pointillist. The problem is that this is a cloud of points that are not necessarily
interconnected, turning it difficult to study interrelationships. This cloud of points reinforces the
"immediatism", the rush and how quickly one discards everything. Even if the cloud has a direction it
could change directions at any moment, becoming the fuel for the consumerism culture, according to
Bauman (2007) “the consumerism society is perhaps only one in human history to promise happiness in
this life, here and now, and every ‘subsequent now’.”
Reinforcing this potentially worrying prospect, Figure 4 illustrates, based on the report The National
Footprint Accounts (2012): "Today humanity uses the equivalent of 1.5 planets to provide the resources
we consume and to absorb what we discard [...] the Earth needs a year and six months to regenerate
what we use in a year."
Figure 4: number of planet Earths needed to replace the existing resources
Source: www.footprintnetwork.org/, access 03 feb 2014
In short, the planet limitations are facing a major challenge considering the conflict between
sustainability and consumerism that is present in many market segments, in many countries and most
diverse cultures. Figure 4 also illustrates a simulation done by the Global Footprint Network for the next
forty years. If humanity maintains the current consumption patterns by 2050 it will be needed 3 planets
earth to accommodate consumption and the environment regeneration. Only if there is a ‘rapid
reduction’, at the current technological standards, by 2050 mankind may return to the 70’s sustainable
level of 1.0 earth. Therefore many things must be done, there are various potential areas to attack to
reverse the current trend and increasing the number of studies of this new marketing concept being
proposed in this paper, the ‘conscious marketing’, the better the academic & business areas will
contribute in the quest for planetary solutions.
Strengthening the sustainability discussion in the marketing arena
A key marketing task in corporations is to segment the market, select the best target audience for the
company’s product/service and position it correctly in the consumers’ mind, as explained in the
Introduction of this paper. Hence, assuming that the ‘conscious marketing’ concepts still does not exist,
it is important to pick models or concepts from the environmental experts that could bring more
visibility and relevance to the sustainability discussion within marketing. Considering that this paper
suggests the ‘sustainable development doughnut framework’ presented at the Rio+20 meeting.
In preparation for the conference, Raworth (2012) published a study (the ‘Oxfam Discussion Paper’
series) with an interesting approach to the topic of sustainability that fits perfectly with this paper focus.
Entitled: “A safe and just space for humanity” the text casts an intrigue curious question: “Can we live
inside a doughnut?” The creative solution combines the concept of the planetary boundaries with the
complementary concept of social boundaries, as shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5: ilustração do espaço seguro e justo no formato do donut
Source: Oxfam, the planetary frontiers based on Rockström et al, 2009
Raworth (2012) explains that to achieve the sustainable development it is required that human rights are
met (food, water, health and energy service) so that the use of natural resources do not press key
processes of the system (the Earth) causing, for example, climate change or biodiversity loss that would
force the planet out of a stable state.
Figure 6 illustrates in a single structure the social base (inner boundary) and environmental background
(outer boundary). Between the two limits is the area - in the form of a doughnut, which the author states
that “represents an environmentally safe and socially just space for humanity to develop. It is also the
space in which the inclusive and sustainable economic development occurs.” (RAWORTH, 2012)
The mnemonic model proposed by the author reveals its practicality when filling in the spaces with
official data adopted by the United Nations (UN), the Food & Agricultural Organization (FAO) and
figures from other entities to establish the limits humanity should reach in the use of these resources.
Figure 6: dimensions below the social base
(the pizza graph illustrates the dimensions and the privation distances)
Source: Oxfam, based on Rockström et al, 2009
Taking food as an example, the dark slice represents that 87% percent of the world population have
enough food, and the distance between this slice and the end of social base represents 13% of the world
population (about 900 million people) that are still undernourished, in other words, the planet do not
offer to all mankind the minimum decent living conditions. (RAWORTH, 2012)
The outer boundary reflects the planetary perspective (Figure 7) and evaluates “how close each system
is close to the maximum environmental limits”. It is visible that at least three borders - change climate,
biodiversity loss and nitrogen use - have been crossed. (RAWORTH, 2012)
Figure 7: Breaking the planetary frontiers
Source: Oxfam, based on Rockström et al, 2009
In short, it is clear through this model that mankind has been using more resources than the planet can
supply however was not able to provide minimum social conditions for a good part of the population.
That is why Oxfam produces the free texts, to increasing number of people around the World that are
aware of these challenges.
Conclusion Marketing, as an applied science, is nurtured and structured around concepts, theories and models. The
majority of the ideas tend to be applied commercially but to be absorbed by the marketeers, they need to
be recognized as practical, effective and easy to use.
The theme of sustainability more focused the planet’s preservation angle to allow humanity to continue
existing, at least in the way seen at the present, is gaining more visibility and relevance in studies,
articles, books, lectures and a lot of initiatives that aim to broaden the discussion with multi varied
points of view.
Interpretation is an integer part of the marketing activity as it is not hard science, based on numbers and
concrete experiments. Marketing deals with human beings, their needs, their emotions, their engagement
to products, brands, causes, etc., therefore that is a discipline that has potential to influence behavior in
the long run. Consumption is accepted, is trivial, and needed for daily activities, but consumerism must
be refrained.
There are already books, theses, papers articulating important concepts like Green Marketing, Social
Marketing and Sustainable Marketing. It was proved the benefits of Green Marketing and that
companies that truly developed and launched green products are enjoying the advantages of the triple
bottom line. The Social Marketing tends to focus more on causes, on the human relationship side of the
organizations and how those companies are influencing the environment, but in a broader sense (no
specific focus on sustainability or conscious consumption). Lastly, Sustainable Marketing is the closest
existing concept that has a good synergy with the main theme of this paper, however has not addressed
to date, at least based on the bibliographic search performed, a key point that is how to enlarge the
conscious consumption ideas into a ‘conscious marketing’ new framework.
An alarming fact, wisely assembled by Raworth for the Rio+20 Meeting via the Sustainable
Development Doughnut is that humanity has exceeded the boundaries in at least three planetary
resources, without providing to human kind, at least a good part of the Word’s population, good
conditions to develop as peoples. The most important achievement from this model, as well as Oxfam’s
initiatives is to raise up voices about the environmental challenges and concerns nations, organizations
and the society in general will need to face, probably sooner than later.
The approach proposed in this paper may be a small angle, but of considerable importance to the cause
that was noted as having little discussions: the role of marketing to understand, produce valuable
knowledge and develop analysis and frameworks aiming a greater goal, for the individual consumer and
the common good, that is the long-term preservation of a planet with limited resources.
Hopefully this paper will provoke further research and studies in the area of ‘conscious marketing’.
Qualitative and quantitative surveys are good opportunities to raise hypothesis and proof the relevance
of the theme currently suggested. The Google Scholar search revealed that in the academia the ‘interest’
in the subject is three times bigger than in the Google generic search (1.3% vs 0.4%), therefore bringing
this topic into the Universities’ environment may bring more educators on board to discuss the point
among professors and students to form a new generation of conscious consumers.
References
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(Portuguese)
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