Marketing, Society, and Controversy: An Online Course from a Macromarketing Perspective

Abstract

This article discusses the nature, scope, content, and evaluation methods that could be employed either in an entirely online macromarketing course or in a mixed mode or face-to-face course with readings drawn exclusively from online sources. That course is built around a critical thinking evaluation of controversial macromarketing topics. However, many of the assigned readings are drawn from other academic disciplines. The central macromarketing concerns explored include negative externalities, the politics of distribution, distributive justice, marketing, and the quality of life, globalization, socioeconomic development, and sustainability. The specific controversies on which students must take a position include a possible market for human body organs, the negative externalities associated with advertising, what— if anything—should be done about the Wal-Mart effect, the pricing of AIDS drugs in Developing Nations and the best way of meeting the UN's Millennium Development Goals.