Look up! Five research proposals for rethinking marketing in a post-growth society

Abstract

By focusing on the capacity of marketing to contribute to climate change, biodiversity loss, and strains on natural resources, this article addresses a fundamental concern. Despite the urgency and significance of these issues, the discipline, indeed, lags in recognizing that human activities have geological-scale consequences, to the extent that a new era, the Anthropocene, is being evoked. This reluctance can be attributed, at least in part, to the implicit assumptions of sustainable marketing, which tend to downplay the extent of the crisis and the necessary paradigm shifts. Hence, dominant approaches in “sustainable marketing” struggle to challenge the fundamental principles and ideological foundations of the market system. That is why we are advocating for radical changes in marketing research to envision a truly sustainable future. We put forth five research proposals with the aim of instigating profound transformations in the field.