Marketing and Consumer Research in the Public Interest

The articles are not a series of condemnations of past and current marketing practices; rather, they provide objective, heavily footnoted descriptions of marketing′s actual impacts on these issues. . . . The book will be of most value to academicians researching ethical and public policy issues and those in nonprofit organizations with marketing responsibilities. --Choice How does personal crisis affect consumption? How do companies decide the appropriate way to market to a minority group? To what extent does social responsibility impact marketing? Marketing and Consumer Research in the Public Interest summarizes and extends the research on these types of issues in marketing and consumer behavior. Written by some of the leading social and public policy scholars in the field of marketing, the book discusses some essential consumption issues, marketing of controversial products, and the effectiveness of consumer safety and green buying campaigns. In addition, the volume examines two cutting-edge theoretical approaches to conducting consumer research in the public interest. It examines troublesome consumption issues such as substance abuse, grieving consumers, and marketing to the poor. It also explores media concerns such as portrayals of minority groups, target marketing, and the impact idealized images have on consumers′ perceptions of their lives, particularly with respect to their material possessions. This volume concludes with an informative discussion of legislative and social marketing issues, including green buying practices, consumer rights, warning labels, and product safety. Researchers, scholars, and upper-level students in the areas of public relations, communications, ethics, healthcare and public policy will find this a valuable resource. Professionals who want a better understanding of the issues that are currently being investigated by scholars in the marketing and consumer behavior fields will appreciate the insights this volume offers as well.

Ronald Paul Hill, Ph.D. in business administration from the University of Maryland, is the Dean’s Professor of Marketing and Public Policy at the American University, Kogod School of Business. He has authored over 200 journal articles, books, chapters, and conference papers on topics that include impoverished consumer behavior, marketing ethics, corporate social responsibility, human development, and public policy. Outlets for this research are Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Business and Society, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Human Rights Quarterly, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and Harvard Business Review. He currently serves as the Vice President of Publications for the American Marketing Association. His term as Editor of the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing extended from July 2006 until June 2012, and he served as Editor of the Journal of Consumer Affairs from 2018-2020. Awards include: 2012 Williams-Qualls-Spratlen Multicultural Mentoring Award of Excellence, 2012 Villanova University Outstanding Faculty Research Award, 2010 Pollay Prize for Excellence in the Study of Marketing in the Public Interest, 2013 AMA Marketing and Society Special Interest Group Lifetime Achievement Award, 2013 Alan N. Nash Distinguished Doctoral Graduate Award, and VSB 2014 McDonough Family Faculty Award for Research Excellence. His 2014 article won the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing Thomas Kinnear Award in 2016, his 2015 Journal of Consumer Affairs article won the best paper award in 2016, and his 2015 Journal of Macromarketing article won the Slater Award in 2016. He received the 2017 Marketing Management Association Master Scholar Award, and he was given the 2019 AMA William L. Wilkie Marketing for a Better World Award.