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Comment on Social Marketing: Are We Fiddling While Rome Burns?
Author(s) -
Wells William D.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of consumer psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.433
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1532-7663
pISSN - 1057-7408
DOI - 10.1207/s15327663jcp0602_05
Subject(s) - politics , downstream (manufacturing) , upstream (networking) , focus (optics) , power (physics) , social marketing , marketing , work (physics) , sociology , psychology , public relations , political science , law , business , computer science , engineering , mechanical engineering , computer network , physics , optics , quantum mechanics
In “Social Marketing: Are We Fiddling While Rome Burns?” Goldberg urged university‐based consumer psychologists to “take on some of the many social marketing issues that lie awaiting” (Goldberg, 1995, p. 367). He also urged us to focus on “upstream” rather than “downstream” issues (pp. 357–366), employ “micro‐lab experimentation” (pp. 356–357), and enter the political arena to advance the implications of our work (pp. 366–367). It easy to agree that we should address social issues. Many do that now. It is not so easy to agree that we should focus on upstream rather than downstream issues or that micro‐lab experimentation is the method of choice. It is very difficult to agree that we should enter the political arena where, as Goldberg acknowledged, “the adversaries are contending for power, not truth” (p. 366).