Marketing for a Worse World: The Case of Juul

by Leave a Comment

As you know, the new 17th edition of Essentials of Marketing and Teach the 4 Ps have been celebrating the theme, marketing for a better world (#M4BW). We are highlighting the many positive actions firms are taking to create a better world, while also making profits. That is not to say we are so naive to believe that every firm behaves in this manner. Juul’s e-cigarettes have been in the news for all the wrong reasons lately. The one getting more press is the health problems people are having. The company has also been under fire for targeting kids who are supposedly too young to use its products. This article in The Guardian, “How Juul gets kids addicted to vaping: it’s even worse than you think,” (February 14, 2020).

The example could be used with segmentation and targeting (Chapter 4), advertising (Chapter 15) or even as a counter-point to our #M4BW coverage.

“Green” attitudes change consumer behavior—the “5 Rs” (#M4BW)

by Leave a Comment

The following is a direct quote from the forthcoming 17th edition of Essentials of Marketing.

Many consumers are showing increasingly positive attitudes toward sustainability—and these attitudes are changing some people’s behavior. While some are choosing brands they view as more sustainable, others are changing their behavior more radically. Some advocates of sustainability encourage people to practice the “5 Rs of sustainability”: (1) refuse—stop buying stuff; (2) reduce overall consumption; (3) reuse—choose reusable, not disposable, products; (4) repurpose—use product packaging, for example, for some other purpose; and (5) recycle. While most of us are familiar with the last R, the other 4 Rs are moving from fringe behaviors to being increasingly common. This may have implications for marketing managers: greater practicing of the 5 Rs may lead consumers to buy less stuff and to be more selective in what they buy.

This might be another way to foster debate around marketing for a better world (#M4BW). While a brand like Patagonia, which positions itself as extremely environmentally-friendly, might be able to get away with an advertising campaign like its “Don’t Buy This Jacket” from a few years ago, can other brands promote reduced consumption? This certainly puts #M4BW to the test and may be worth a classroom debate.

More fake reviews at Amazon…

by Leave a Comment

We have talked about the “Gray World of Online Reviews” here at Teach the 4 Ps several times in the past few years–and of course in Essentials of Marketing. I am still shocked at the different unethical techniques used to continue this misleading practice. I am also surprised that Amazon and others that rely on their reviews to (in part) drive traffic have not figured out how to better police such behavior. With all that in mind, here is one more example, “Her Amazon Purchases Are Real. The Reviews Are Fake,” Buzz Feed News, November 20, 2019.

From a personal standpoint, I used to just assume that a product with a few dozen reviews and a 4.5 star (or higher) average was worth buying. I still trust reviews, but I am much more likely to check out a few of the one-start and two-star reviews to see if they are the few honest ones. I also believe that fake reviews are eventually sorted out. If those five-start reviews attract buyers — they will also attract frustrated critics who shower the product with one-star reviews.

Skin care brand Sunday Riley wrote fake Sephora reviews…

by Leave a Comment

We have all worried about it. I love reviews for helping me make buying decisions. It is great to have information from real customers who have experience with a product. But are those reviews real? We have written about it before right here in Teach the 4 Ps. We also have an Ethical Dilemma on fake reviews in Essentials of Marketing.

It came up again recently when it was reported that “Skin care brand Sunday Riley wrote fake Sephora reviews for almost two years, FTC says.” (CNN, October 23, 2019. As consumers increasingly rely on reviews as a source of buying information, there is a growing incentive for sellers to add more information. This story about Sunday Riley is particularly egregious.

This is a major concern for retailers or other intermediaries that add value by providing reviews. For Amazon, good and bad reviews provide valuable information to consumers — but fake reviews threaten trust in the system. Consider, a study by a British consumer education group which found “Many popular tech products on Amazon are boosted by fake reviews, an investigation finds,” (CNN, April 16, 2019). Even travel site like TripAdvisor faces the same concerns, “TripAdvisor defends itself against claim that up to one in seven reviews might be fake,” (CNN, September 6, 2019). For Amazon and TripAdvisor their business models rely heavily on reviews. These intermediaries do not pay customers to provide this information — so it is low-cost to add — but it is one of the main reasons many customers use the sites. Consequently, Amazon and TripAdvisor use artificial intelligence technology to try to weed out fake reviews.

We cover online reviews and related ethical and legal issues in Chapters 13 and 16 in Essentials of Marketing. 

Mattress firms creating value (?) with financing deals…

by Leave a Comment

The mattress industry is a pretty crazy (check out “The Great Mattress Conspiracy: Why Are There So Many Mattress Stores?” on Endless Thread, podcast and story). You might check out the podcast for a fun example when you cover retailing. Or ethics. You might also check out one of our previous posts, “The Gray World of Online Reviews” (Teach the 4 Ps) — tags include ethics and online reviews.

Onto our story of the day and we are back in the retail mattress industry. With the emergence of new mattress products designed for easy shipping, online mattress stores (Casper, Leesa, Tuft & Needle), this market continues to be very competitive. Retail brick-and-mortar store Mattress Firm has closed 700 stores and is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Now they are competing on financing. In fact, Mattress Firm will give you six years of 0% interest on a mattress purchase of up to $3999. Financing is certainly one way to create value for customers — and the automobile industry has done it for years — but does it make sense for buyers of mattresses. We will see. Learn more reading “6-year, 0% loan for a mattress? Intense competition continues to grip mattress industry,” USA Today, October 25, 2019.