What Is Marketing About

Many people say that marketing is misleading.

This is sort of true, but needs to put into context.  Most of us (in the UK) do not need 10 pairs of shoes, new clothes each week, upgrading our car every few years - but advertising does say otherwise.  It has to, if the economy is going to come out of recession, the government needs people to spend spend spend.

Without this, businesses will not sell their products, tax will not be collected and the government will loose income.

Is Marketing Misleading? 

Lets consider a few different examples that will use marketing to sell their product.

Supermarkets

Supermarkets always have offers on, 2 for 1, buy 1 get 1 free etc..  Often the prices are manipulated so that sometimes you are spending more but thinking you are getting a good deal.

Marketing is all about packaging; making something seem attractive and appealing.

British Armed Forces

The armed forces are doing a lot of advertising on TV to bring in new recruits.

The army do not advise that you are in a job role that will very likely require you to put your life on the line for king and country - and you may well get killed.

This is the nature of the role, a soldiers job is to follow orders and either kill or be killed.

However the army kind of miss this point, focusing on the chance to travel, to be part of a team, learn skills and to have a prosperous career.

Bank Loans

Banks love people that get into debt - as they will pay money in interest.  They market loan deals that may require you to pay back twice the amount you borrow.

This of course has been in the spotlight in recent months - but the fact remains that banks need money to exist, and they way they get money is from lending money.

Junk Food

We all know that junk food is bad for us; however the way the marketing is done, a different picture is painted.

McDonald's had a recent advert that had a great scene of families laughing in their restaurants, eating salads and drinking juice.  The main products of McDonald's are burgers - which we all know are low in nutrition and high in salt.

This is not clear in the advert or in their marketing, it is focusing on health and happiness painting a picture that we all will like.

Marketing is about giving a message, whether this is 100% true or 100% accurate sometimes questions do need to be asked (for any marketing message) by the consumers.