Wants vs. needs

on the philosophical bases of humanistic marketing

Claus Dierksmeier

pp. 59-83

in: Richard Varey, Michael Pirson (eds), Humanistic marketing, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014

Abstract

The present demand for Humanistic Marketing, as going beyond and synthesizing previous concepts of integrity marketing and sustainability marketing, may be representative for the current state of management theory at large. Why do scholars aim to distinguish some forms of marketing as "humanistic" (or, by inclusion, as integrity or sustainability oriented)? Can marketing-as-usual no longer service human interests adequately? For, although conventional marketing clearly fulfils its instrumental function of nudging people toward consumption, doubt has arisen as to its merits. While business tools are ordinarily appreciated in proportion to their (increasing) functionality, marketing-as-usual, instead, appears to lose approval when meeting its professed goals.