RENDERING. Богатова С.М - 28 стр.

      Render from English                                                    tion, have promulgated a set of professional standards for their indus-
                                                                             try.
          ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL ASPECTS OF MARKETING                                  Copyright © 1994–2001 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. (1946
        Sometimes criticized for its impact on personal economic and         символов)
social well-being, marketing has been said to affect not only individual
consumers but also society as a whole.                                                            CONTROLS ON ADVERTISING
        Criticisms have been leveled against marketers, claiming that                Of all the criticisms levelled at manufacturers, those against their
some of their practices may damage individual welfare. While this may        advertising probably have been the most vociferous. Advertising is
be true in certain circumstances, it is important to recognize that, if a    necessarily vulnerable to these attacks: it is experienced by everybody,
business damages individual welfare, it cannot hope to continue in the       its products are on show for a long time, and its purposes are material-
marketplace for long. As a consequence, most unfavourable views of           istic. Although the major purpose of company advertising, which is to
marketing are criticisms of poor marketing, not of strategically sound       attract members of the public toward buying a particular product, is
marketing practices.                                                         fairly straightforward, the methods employed in this process have be-
        Others have raised concerns about marketing by saying that it        come increasingly complex. As business has become more competitive,
increases prices by encouraging excessive markups. Marketers recog-          so has the advertising that sells its products. Coupled with this in-
nize that consumers may be willing to pay more for a product--such as        creased competition has been the development of more powerful media
a necklace from Tiffany and Co. – simply because of the associated           – the most important of these being television.
prestige. This not only results in greater costs for promotion and distri-           From the consumer's point of view, the basic criticism of adver-
bution, but it allows marketers to earn profit margins that may be sig-      tising is that it leads him to purchase goods that he has no wish to pur-
nificantly higher than industry norms. Marketers counter these con-          chase by presenting misleading and untruthful statements or by creat-
cerns by pointing out that products provide not only functional benefits     ing wants, needs, and desires in his mind that might not otherwise ex-
but symbolic ones as well. By creating a symbol of prestige and luxury,      ist. In the first instance it is accepted that the consumer, of his own vo-
Tiffany's offers a symbolic benefit that, according to some consumers,       lition, has a need that is filled by the description of the advertised prod-
justifies the price. In addition, brands may symbolize not only prestige     uct (but not necessarily by the product itself), whereas in the second the
but also quality and functionality, which gives consumers greater con-       need is artificial and is stimulated entirely by the media.
fidence when they purchase a branded product. Finally, advertising and               From an economic viewpoint, critics of advertising point to the
promotions are often very cost-effective methods of informing the gen-       enormous amount of money involved – money that, they state, does not
eral public about items and services that are available in the market-       benefit the consumer although he is compelled to pay it. A second
place.                                                                       criticism is that advertising restricts competition because only large
        A few marketers have been accused of using deceptive practices,      companies can afford expensive, nationwide campaigns, thus limiting
such as misleading promotional activities or high-pressure selling.          freedom of entry of new firms into an established market.
These deceptive practices have given rise to legislative and administra-             A definitive answer to these questions is obviously impossible.
tive remedies, including guidelines offered by the Federal Trade Com-        Regarding the first, it might be fair to say that economic growth and the
mission (FTC) regarding advertising practices, automatic 30-day guar-        creation of wealth might come about far more slowly without the aid of
antee policies by some manufacturers, and «cooling off» periods during       advertising. The development of national rather than regional brands –
which a consumer may cancel any contract signed. In addition, profes-        and the economies of scale implicit in this development – might be re-
sional marketing associations, such as the Direct Marketing Associa-         tarded. For all its drawbacks, advertising informs the consumer and

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