Marketing’s Consequences: Stakeholder Marketing and Supply Chain Corporate Social Responsibility Issues

Abstract

ABSTRACT:While considerable attention has been given to the harm donetoconsumers by marketing, less attention has been given to the harm donebyconsumers as an indirect effect of marketing activities, particularly in regard to supply chains. The recent development of dramatically expanded global supply chains has resulted in social and environmental problems upstream that are attributable at least in part to downstream marketers and consumers. Marketers have responded mainly by using corporate social responsibility (CSR)communicationto counter the critique of CSRpractice, but these claims of ethical corporate behavior often lack credibility and can result in a backlash against brands. The article argues that more adequate attention to the harmful upstream effects of downstream marketing and consumption decisions requires greater attention to stakeholder marketing and marketer efforts to help create responsible consumers. It concludes by identifying implications for further research in this important emergent area of marketing ethics.