In Your Face: How American Marketing Excess Fuels Anti-Americanism

Chapter 4. Global Marketing as Bad Marketing

Selling it like it is

The “good marketing” idea has always been that marketers serve customers, not the other way around. Corporations operating with a customer orientation do not simply sell what they make, but make what they can sell. The products manufactured are those that prior research shows customers want. Of course, it is not such a simple thing for customers to tell you exactly what they want until the product is available to them. In saturated markets especially, we consumers want it when we see it, not before. Still, companies gather focus groups of potential consumers to evaluate new designs, ask consumers to trade off features (“Do you want longer battery life if it means a heavier unit?” ...