Chapter 4 – Conscious Marketing, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Ethics Marketing 6th
Chapter 4
Conscious Marketing, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Ethics
Tools for Instructors
Brief Chapter Outline
Learning Objectives
Extended Chapter Outline with Teaching Tips
Answers to End of Chapter Learning Aids
Chapter Case Study
Additional Teaching Tips
Connect Activities
Brief Chapter Outline
Conscious Marketing
Marketing’s Greater Purpose: Corporate Social Responsibility as an Element of Conscious Marketing
The Stakeholders of Conscious Marketing
Integrating Conscious Marketing Throughout the Firm: Leadership and Culture
Marketing Ethics as A Conscious Marketing Principle
End of Chapter Learning Aids
Chapter Case Study: Is There an App for Good Parenting?
Learning Objectives
LO 4-1 Define conscious marketing
Conscious marketing involves a sense of purpose for the firm that is more than simply making a profit by
selling products and services. It consists of four main principles: a greater purpose, consideration of
stakeholders, conscious leadership and culture, and ethics.
LO4-2 Describe what constitutes marketing’s greater purpose.
Marketers must recognize that the purpose of business is more than making profits. The actual purpose
might vary, such as providing necessary products, ensuring employment opportunities, or achieving
greener production methods, but in all of these cases, the engagement improves the inputs as well as the
outcomes of marketing actions.
LO4-3 Differentiate between conscious marketing and corporate social responsibility.
Although CSR is an important element of conscious marketing, they are different from one another. CSR
implies a focus on the triple bottom-line of good performance according to economic, environmental, and
social criteria. Thus good CSR can support and help promote conscious marketing. But conscious
marketing goes beyond just CSR to refer to the overall meaning and purpose of the company and its
marketing.
LO4-4 Describe the ways in which conscious marketing helps various stakeholders.
To describe the ways, we first have to identify the various stakeholders of a company—namely,
customers, employees, the marketplace, society, and the environment:
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Chapter 4 – Conscious Marketing, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Ethics Marketing 6th
Customers: When companies exhibit conscious marketing principles, customers know that they can
trust the firms to provide healthy, ethically acceptable products and services. Many customers also
feel better about buying from a company that engages in responsible practices, which provides
them with the additional value of feeling good about buying from that company.
Employees: A firm committed to conscious marketing treats its employees with decency and
respect. For many employees, working for an irresponsible firm would be antithetical to their own
morals and values.
Marketplace: An industry improves its practices and avoids scandals when it ensures that the
participating firms act responsibly and appropriately in all areas.
Society: This stakeholder is local, national, or global communities who benefit when conscious
marketers give thought to how their practices might influence values or connections, such as
providing aid to underprivileged communities.
Environmental Sustainability. The benefits of conscious marketing might include cleaner air and
water as well as healthier product options.
LO4-5 Explain how conscious leadership can produce a conscious culture in the firm.
Conscious marketing should be integrated into the very foundation of the firm by its leaders, such as in
the firm’s mission statement. Then top management must follow through and commit to supporting CSR,
a strong ethical climate in the organization, and conscious marketing principles. When considering their
strategy, conscious marketing firms ask not only “can we implement a certain policy?” but also “should we
do it?” If any action is not ethical or socially responsible, the conscious firm will make changes to its
marketing strategy.
LO4-6 Describe how ethics constitute an integral part of a firm’s conscious marketing strategy.
Being a part of an ethically responsible firm should be important to every employee, but it is particularly
important to marketers because they interact most directly with customers and suppliers and make
decisions about how their products impact society and the environment. Thus marketing issues present a
multitude of ethical questions and opportunities to handle.
LO4-7 Identify the four steps in ethical decision making.
First, firms can include ethics and social responsibility in their corporate mission. Second, they should
institute policies and procedures to ensure that everyone working for the firm is acting in an ethically
responsible manner. Third, firms can model their ethical policies after a well-established code of ethics
like the one provided by the American Marketing Association. Fourth, when making ethically sensitive
decisions, firms can utilize a metric such as the ethical decision-making metric in Exhibit 4.6.
Extended Chapter Outline with Teaching Tips
I. Conscious Marketing
1. Recognition of marketing’s greater purpose.
2. Consideration of stakeholders and their interdependence.
3. The presence of conscious leadership, creating a corporate culture.
4. The understanding that decisions are ethically based.
II. Marketing’s Greater Purpose: Corporate Social Responsibility as an Element of Conscious
Marketing
Progress Check: Several questions are offered for students to check their understanding of core
concepts.
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Chapter 4 – Conscious Marketing, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Ethics Marketing 6th
1. What are the criteria for being a conscious marketer?
2. Is Walmart a conscious marketer or is it a practitioner of CSR?
III. The Stakeholders of Conscious Marketing
A. Employees
B. Customers
C. Marketplace
D. Society
E. Environment
Progress Check: Several questions are offered for students to check their understanding of core
concepts.
1. What is the difference between conscious marketing and corporate social responsibility?
Answer: Although CSR is an important element of conscious marketing, it is not the same thing.
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY CONSCIOUS MARKETING
Independent of corporate purpose or culture
Incorporates higher purpose and a
caring culture
business as a complex adaptive
system
2. Provide a specific example of a conscious marketing firm that considers the needs of each of its
stakeholders.
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Chapter 4 – Conscious Marketing, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Ethics Marketing 6th
IV. Integrating Conscious Marketing Throughout the Firm: Leadership and Culture
A. Planning Phase
B. Implementation Phase
C. Control Phase
Progress Check: Several questions are offered for students to check their understanding of core
concepts.
1. What ethical questions should a marketing manager consider at each stage of the marketing
plan?
V. Marketing Ethics as a Conscious Marketing Principle
A. The Nature of Ethical and Unethical Marketing Decisions
B. Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility
C. A Framework for Ethical Decision Making
1. Step 1: Identify Issues
2. Step 2: Gather Information and Identify Stakeholders
3. Step 3: Brainstorm Alternatives
4. Step 4: Choose a Course of Action
Progress Check: Several questions are offered for students to check their understanding of core
concepts.
1. Identify the stages in the ethical decision-making framework.
Appendix 4a
Extended Chapter Outline
I Understanding Ethics Using Scenarios
D. Scenario 1: R.J. Reynolds: Promotions to the Youth Market
E. Scenario 2: Car Manufacturer Gives Bribes for Contracts
F. Scenario 3: Retailers Lack Ethical Guidelines
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Chapter 4 – Conscious Marketing, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Ethics Marketing 6th
G. Scenario 4: Giving Credit Where Credit Isn’t Due
H. Scenario 5: The Jeweler’s Tarnished Image
I. Scenario 6: No Wonder It’s So Good
J. Scenario 7: Bright Baby’s Bright Idea
K. Scenario 8: Money from Mailing Lists
L. Scenario 9: The Blogging CEO
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