Must a Company Cater to its Consumers’ Feelings?
The Societal Marketing concept as described by Roger A. Kerin and Steven W. Hartley, Authors of “McGraw Hill Marketing: The Core” is the view that “organizations should satisfy the needs of consumers in a way that provides for society’s well-being.” Companies that apply the concept of societal marketing hold themselves to a high standard where they are making ethical decisions that benefit the world at large. Their relationship with their consumers benefits both parties; companies make a profit, the consumers can get their needs met, and everyone lives in a better world. It is reported that 80% of consumers will switch to a brand that supports a good cause, which means it is in a company’s best interest to always act ethically to promote a socially responsible brand image.
For cosmetic companies, a way that they can benefit society is by promoting the message of self-love, and not deliberately shaming their customers. Even though companies can bring in a lot more customers by promoting a positive message that aligns with the societal marketing concept, a lot of companies completely violate this concept just to gain extra profits. When a company releases an advertisement, its three main objectives are to inform, remind, and persuade customers about products a company is putting out. Instead, cosmetic companies use advertisements to remind customers how unattractive they appear to be without the use of cosmetics.
One of the main problems that society faces today is millions of individuals having prior body image issues. Dr. Jake Linardon is a Research Fellow and Lecturer of Psychology at Deakin University, Melbourne Australia. He studies the causes, consequences, and treatments for eating disorders. According to a multinational study conducted, he reports that body image was listed as the top 4 concerns for women worldwide, and “around 50% of young 13-year-old American girls reported being unhappy with their body. This number grew to nearly 80% by the time girls reached 17 years of age”. In American adult women, it was reported through a large study that around 50% of women of any race felt that they were dissatisfied with their bodies.
With body issues being such a big problem, one would think that companies are pushing the image of body positivity even more on their consumers. Instead, cosmetic marketers are the ones who are creating this problem. A phobia around imperfections to exploit their consumers’ insecurities, for the money. When companies are purposely making their consumers feel bad about the way that they naturally look, they are creating new insecurities for people who see these advertisements. When they begin to have low self-esteem because of these advertisements, it typically leads to depression, eating disorders, anxiety, and overall lack of confidence. Companies are not benefiting the world by causing mental health issues to consumers, therefore violating their social responsibility.
However, One socially responsible cosmetic brand owner and celebrity, Rhianna, decides to go against the norm of preying off on customers’ self-hate by launching her brand Fenty Beauty. She stated that her mission for creating her projects is so “people everywhere would be included.” Fenty Beauty debuted in 2017, with a wide range of shades for their foundations with almost 40, now upgraded to 50 shades. She made sure to include shade ranges for every skin color. It didn’t just stop at the foundation, her contour sticks, bronzers, concealers, blush included colors that will look good on any skin tone which is rare to find for the majority of brands out there. Their advertisements featured women of all skin tones, and those who don’t typically fit the beauty standard to show that no matter what color you are, and who you look like, you are beautiful.
Immediately, this brand became a success, but not because it was founded by Rhianna, a well-known celebrity. Raking in about 550 million dollars in its first year and being named one of the best inventions of 2017 by Time magazine, in 2022 Fenty Beauty is now a billion-dollar brand. It is clear to see that brands that prioritize inclusiveness rake in a lot of praise from the media and consumers. Typically the media is quick to call out any hypocrisy or faults that brands may commit, so for a brand to get this much attention and good press it means they are doing something right. With Fenty beauty being such a success, it must make sense for other brands to hop on the inclusion bandwagon so they too can become a hit by consumers.
This sadly is not the case for most other brands out there. Cosmetic pushers still rely on insulting their customers to drive up sales because it seems like the thought of being inclusive will convince customers that they do not need makeup, which will drive them out of business. There are still millions of advertisements out there promoting cosmetic products in such a way that women will be guilted into purchasing them because they feel as if they will not look good without them.
Despite popular belief, this is no accident. It takes millions of dollars as well as hundreds of people to approve and sign off on an advertisement before it is released to the public. The odds that someone could spot if an ad can be taken in any way is extremely high, and the fact that there are advertisements out there that are deliberately making women feel bad about themselves to buy a product is alarming.
Following the success of Fenty beauty, as well as adhering to their social responsibility, brands need to start promoting products using the message of body positivity and letting their consumers know they are beautiful no matter what to overall benefit society, with fewer body-shaming ads come less negative body images.
References
Kerin, Roger A., and Steven W. Hartley. Marketing: The Core. McGraw-Hill LLC, 2022.
Learning, Lumen. “Principles of Marketing.” Lumen, 2015,
Linardon, Dr Jake. “Body Image Statistics 2022: 47+ Shocking Facts & Stats.” Break Binge Eating, Break Binge Eating, 27 Feb. 2022, https://breakbingeeating.com/body-image-statistics/.
Sharma, Akriti, et al. “Fenty Beauty and 10 Other Inclusive Beauty Brands in the World.” Prestige Online – Thailand, 3 Sept. 2021, https://www.prestigeonline.com/th/beauty-wellness/beauty/fenty-beauty-and-other-inclusive-beauty-brands/.
alwaystired247
AnonymousStudent
azntaco
beforeverge
BigBabyBaller
bitagaming
breakingbad1820
Caravan
cinderella1013
davidbdale
Yankeelover18
fatboy489zt
giantsfan224
glacierfreeze21
gobirds17
green0728
gymrat230
Gir
jerseymikes1106
jesusisking1738
jetsfan806
Kenneth Alex Krug
manipulator66
mercythyhealer14
McCormick Karner
mochaatrain
oni
powerranger
peanut2348
pinkcottoncandy4
princess01430
redbird1123
rubes1256
shxrkbait
sillyinternetperson
soulpond47240
spatel8267
stingingcrib5
tacotyphoon
thepersonindisguise
usmnt23
worldofjuice999
xephos1
Counterintuitive Fall 2022 
Please give feedback on overall quality of argument, as well as any writing mistakes.
Thank you for your request, Swim.
—You’re describing a concept called Societal Marketing using just initial capitals for emphasis, which is fine, Swim, but if you capitalize Concept too, readers will think it’s part of the name.
—”as said” makes no sense in your context. They might say “Societal Marketing” in the article, but what’s important is that they DESCRIBE or DEFINE or USE the term.
—You haven’t placed the title of the article into quotation marks as you should have.
—We assume when you don’t place the definition in quotes that you’re paraphrasing the authors, Swim, but if they actually said, “organizations should satisfy . . . ” and the rest of it, then that description belongs in quotes.
—I hope the problem here is obvious. You’ve used precisely the same language in two sentences in a row, once WITHOUT quotation marks, and once WITH quotation marks. Obviously, you were quoting both times.
—The period belongs INSIDE the quotation mark.
—This is actually three sentences that you have jammed together with commas. The error is called “comma splice.” There are several solutions to the problem, but the easiest is to use periods to separate your sentences.
—Using “where” here is not technically a grammar error, but it’s not fluent either. I’ll address that in the recommendation paragraph below.
—The grammar seems legal, but I don’t follow the logic of the company telling its customers that the company should uphold its responsibility.
—You forgot the period.
RECOMMENDED ALTERATIONS:
Does that help, or is it too much to take in at once?
Now for the argument.
P1. The Societal Marketing Concept
Readers need a reason to read your essay, Swim. If this is part of your cosmetic paper, you might already have readers hooked by the time they get to this page, BUT the essay should stand alone as a persuasive argument, SO it needs its own rationale for existing. In the case of this paragraph, we don’t really care about the abstract concept of Societal Marketing (yawn), but if someone’s VIOLATING the concept, that’s kinda juicy. So . . . After the first sentence could you drop the hint that “for cosmetics manufacturers, for example, benefiting society in general would include ELIMINATING harmful ingredients from their formulations, and NOT BODY SHAMING their customers. See what I mean? Now we’re interested, and you get the to advance your argument at the same time.
P2. Companies are able to reach
We really don’t need a definition of advertising unless you’re going to point out something about one of the categories that is peculiar to the cosmetics industry. (Several writing problems already mentioned about your first paragraph are evident here in the second paragraph as well, Swim.)
You’re really confusing me here. This homage to Societal Marketing sounds very much as if you’re praising the cosmetics industry for carefully adhering to ethical standards and promoting the social benefits of their products. You may be very confused about the PURPOSE of a Rebuttal argument. It’s NOT to “argue the other side.” It’s to “demolish the other side” of the argument. Your description of Societal Marketing is a very good first step. But Step Two would be to demonstrate how crassly the cosmetics industry violates the principles. I disagree that “Cosmetic companies [use their ads to] inform customers about their products and what they do.” In your approach to this topic, you’ve demonstrated that, instead, they use their ads to “remind customers how unattractive and undesirable they are without the help of cosmetics” or something to that effect. You don’t have to pretend for a paragraph that they don’t.
P3. One of the main problems
Right. Dive right into the “body image issues.” Sure, it’s a problem “that society faces,” but more importantly, it’s a phobia about our own bodies that cosmetic companies EXPLOIT and in many ways CREATE.
P4. With body issues being
This is a good counterpoint message, but be sure you boldly characterize it as an anomaly. “One socially responsible cosmetics maker resists the temptation to prey on it customers’ self-hate.”
P5. It is clear to see
This is very nice. You might also mention that companies that DO EMPHASIZE inclusiveness and positivity benefit from very positive PUBLIC RELATIONS. They start the ball rolling by declaring their mission, of course, but the “beauty press” picks up on that positivity and lavishes praise on such companies when they deserve it. (They’ll be quick to spot and expose hypocrisy if they find it; but if the social good is true, it will find champions in the media.)
P6. This sadly is not the case.
I think what you mean to say is “Sadly, most cosmetics pushers still depend on insulting their customers to drive sales.”
So.
When the battle lines are clearly drawn, your argument holds up, Swim. But don’t confuse us. We don’t want paragraphs that DECLINE to take a side or a stand. Put EVERY claim into context.
Does that help?
You can revise for a regrade. I think you’ll want to, and personally, I’ll feel gratified that I haven’t wasted my time when you do make changes. When you do, put the post back into Feedback Please and ask for a regrade.
Please regrade because I have made improvements