Marketing Ethics and Consumer Society

This unique new text explores marketing ethics, the impact of marketing on consumers’ lives, and the wider social, cultural, and political context of marketing activities.

Taking a critical approach to marketing practice, the book discusses the growing sense of responsibility within the marketing discipline and addresses issues at the interface between marketing and society. Importantly for Marketing students, it works to develop an understanding of the impacts that marketing can have on consumers’ lives and the potential that future marketers have to shape contemporary society. Chapters cover marketing and advertising ethics, critical consumption, gender and race, brand activism, sustainability and corporate social responsibility, and understanding and protecting the consumer. Case studies drawn from international contexts featuring real-life and recognisable organisations are included in every chapter to bring the theory to life, enabling students to explore the ethical dilemmas and criticisms faced by organisations and consumers in contemporary society. Chapter outlines, learning outcomes, summaries, and self-assessment questions cement learning, whilst discussion questions aim to provoke interesting conversation.

A much-needed and relevant textbook that brings together all the key contemporary topics in marketing ethics, this should be core reading for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students studying modules on marketing ethics, ethical marketing and sustainability, and marketing and society.

Online support materials include lecture slides and a test bank.

Athanasia Daskalopoulou is Senior Lecturer in Marketing at the University of Liverpool. Athanasia’s interpretive research programme focuses on market dynamics, consumer culture, gender, and arts marketing. Athanasia is also conducting sociological research on work focusing on technology use and its relationship with work practices and identity. Athanasia’s work has been published at international peer-reviewed journals such as Sociology; Social Science & Medicine; Marketing Theory; European Journal of Marketing; New Technology, Work and Employment; Journal of Services Marketing; Studies in Higher Education; Advances in Consumer Research. Athanasia also co-edited the first volume of Sexuality in Marketing and Consumption: Queer Theory, Feminist Research, and Intersectionality for Routledge, published in 2025.

Natalia Yannopoulou is Professor of Marketing at Newcastle University Business School. Natalia’s research examines how consumers understand and interpret market offerings, while focusing on the symbolic meaning of communication between companies and audiences. Her research interests are mainly in the areas of consumer behaviour, marketing communications and branding of authenticity of mainly food and fashion brands within emerging markets. Her work appears in journals such as Journal of Business Research, European Journal of Marketing, International Journal of Advertising, British Journal of Management, and Business History. She serves on the Editorial Board of Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising and International Journal of Services, Economics and Management. Her work has also received funding from Innovate UK, British Council and European Regional Development Fund.