Marketing and Society

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2011:

MKTG10001 Principles of Marketing

For the purposes of considering requests for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements for this entry.

The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

This subject examines the role of marketing in the wider society, beyond its relationship with consumers and shareholders. It looks at the benefits marketing provides, but it also looks at criticisms of marketing in terms of its negative influence on individual consumers and society as a whole. Some of these criticisms include deliberate behaviours, such as deceptive advertising and high-pressure sales techniques, while others are more systemic, such as the promotion of materialism and the destruction of the natural environment. Many of these criticisms constitute public issues (eg. consumerism, climate change), where individuals and consumer groups express their concerns through organised boycotts and political protest. This subject considers how marketers should respond to these criticisms and examines the government’s role in regulating the marketing and society relationship.

On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:

• Appreciate the variety of social, political and economic forces affecting marketing organisations at the global and local level.
• Identify and analyse current public issues in the interplay between marketing and society, such as advertising to children, junk food, materialism and climate change.
• Critically evaluate the debates around the ethical and social responsibilities of marketers;
• identify the different ethical frameworks for engaging in those debates; and understand how marketers can respond to calls for ethical and social responsibility.
• Apply the above learning to real world cases and situations.

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

• Bachelor of Arts
• Bachelor of Biomedicine
• Bachelor of Environments
• Bachelor of Music
• Bachelor of Science
• Bachelor of Engineering

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.

Students are invited to develop the following generic skills through the activities designed into this subject (essay, group presentation, participation in tutorial discussions, note taking and participation in lectures); critical thinking about societal and ethical issues in marketing settings; oral and written communication; problem solving and collaborative learning; and synthesis of data and other information.