Marketing for Sustainable Development

1Opposing the Market Through Responsible Consumption to Transform It

Abdelmajid AMINE and Mouna BENHALLAM

IRG, University Paris-Est Créteil, France

1.1. Introduction

The increase of ecological and social concerns in recent decades, calling for radical changes to modes of production and consumption, shows the signs of a societal model that is flagging. This model, long propped up by sales techniques that encouraged over-consumption and the unbridled pursuit of possessions and material comforts, is, now more than ever, being called upon to reorient itself around a fairer sustainable balance between people, the environment and the economy.

There has been criticism of marketing since the early 1970s (Kassarjian 1971), highlighting its shortcomings and side effects, namely, the harmful incitement to buy, the creation of superficial needs and the devastating exploitation of natural resources. This then developed with time around major concepts, such as “sustainable development” (Nader et al. 1971), the “social responsibility of companies” (Manrai et al. 1997), consumer opposition (Penãloza and Price 1993) and even theoretical frameworks, such as Transformative Consumer Research (TCR) (Mick et al. 2012). The latter supports results-based marketing research on major social issues (health, poverty, the environment, etc.), the results of which are intended to improve individual and collective well-being. All of these changes reflect the gradual dissemination of contestation behavior ...