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Consumers need to move to more sustainable/ethical behavior. Previous research has explored changing consumption with most studies concentrating on specific aspects of sustainable/ethical consumption. This study uses a full range of citizen defined ethical choices. Applying Rasch modeling to consumers' reports of ethically motivated consumption choices, a hierarchy of ethical choices is created. This hierarchy of ethical consumption choices allows the application of stages of change theory to progress consumers up the hierarchy of ethical choices, with implications for public policy, pressure groups and consumers.

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Brands are ubiquitous and adorn contemporary marketing systems. Modern branding practices spawn contradictory social mechanisms, value co-creation and value co-destruction. This paper considers the societal implications, including personal, psychological, social, ecological, and economic consequences of branding. It posits brand externalities as meaning-led discrepancies and symbolic spill-overs igniting mechanisms detrimental to the integrity of the social system. Brand externalities accompany the assortment of brands in contemporary marketing systems. We propose a taxonomy of brand externalities and elucidate societal consequences of branding upon brand exchange actors themselves, their immediate others, future others and general others. This stakeholder orientation sets a future research agenda and calls for redefining branding from the system’s perspective.

The enhancement of quality of life (QoL) is one of marketing’s contributions to society. It is frequently investigated using Subjective Well-Being (SWB)—a concept that focuses on individual’s perceived QoL. Consumer lifestyle segments are a modern day stratification tool that explores how people choose to use available resources to express and develop their status in a society. How SWB varies across New Zealand’s consumer lifestyle segments and potential explanations for the differences in perceived levels of satisfaction is investigated. While overall levels of SWB are influenced by available resources, the characteristics of lifestyle segments provide richer explanations for perceived differences in well-being. This information is useful for policy makers as a first stage to diagnose problems and to develop strategies. Ultimately, lifestyle segmentation may provide an effective basis for targeting interventions aimed at raising SWB in particular population groups.

The International Wellbeing Index (IWI), a global measure for investigating subjective wellbeing, consists of a Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI) and a National Wellbeing Index (NWI). The index is applied to the two largest ethnic populations in New Zealand-New Zealanders with European heritage and New Zealanders with Maori heritage. Psychometric characteristics of the IWI for both subsamples compare favourably to those found in other countries. However, for both subsamples, the absolute value of reported subjective wellbeing is lower than expected. Consistent with other social indicators, New Zealanders with Maori heritage show even lower values of PWI and NWI than New Zealanders with European heritage.

Exchange is seen through all living entities, but marketing systems and their complexity are one of the aspects that separate humans from other animals. Our marketing systems are complex and require trust in remote, and often never met or personally encountered, individuals. These marketing systems have significantly contributed to the development of humanity and our increasing length of life and standard of living. But, in the Western world we have gone beyond satisfying the needs of humans to an era of excess consumption that negatively impacts on not just our current environment and society, but our potential futures. At the same time vast numbers of people remain under provided for by marketing systems, living short lives with a low standard of living. Discussing the development of marketing systems and our current era of excess this paper provides a call to macromarketing researcher. It asks for research on big topics that will define the future of humanity, and potentially whether there will be one at all.