Marketing's Moral Myopia: A Normative Critique of Harmful Product Marketing through the Lens of the AMA Definition

Abstract

This paper demonstrates the ethical tension between the American Marketing Association's normative definition of marketing, which emphasises creating value for customers and society, and the marketing of harmful products like tobacco, alcohol, and ultra-processed foods. These products contribute significantly to global public health crises, including non-communicable diseases and addiction. Using normative marketing theory, stakeholder theory, and ethics theory, the paper argues that promoting such products fundamentally conflicts with the AMA's definition of providing value for society. This contradiction reflects a systemic problem in aligning marketing systems and practice with the AMA's stated definition of social value. Accordingly, the paper challenges the moral legitimacy of market systems that commodify harm while claiming to deliver social value and calls for a reconsideration of marketing's purpose and boundaries in relation to harmful industries. The paper concludes with practical recommendations to realign marketing practice, policy, and education with the discipline's commitment to social value.