Religious marketing: reflections from the other side of politics

Abstract

The idea that politics and religion occupy adjoining berths in the broadened marketing camp is critically examined. Following a brief review of contemporary religious marketing, a comparison is undertaken of religion and politics to determine whether they conform to a common marketing framework for nonbusiness environments. The idea that marketing in faith environments is validated by the 'religious economy' theory is critically examined, significant objections to the adoption of marketing principles and methods by the religious community are explored, and some limitations of the exchange concept in a faith context are identified. Some implications are considered for both political and mainstream marketing, in terms of recent attempts to broaden the scope of marketing.

From Cattle and Coke to Charlie: Meeting the Challenge of Self Marketing and Personal Branding

“…For Arruda (2003), for example, personal branding "is permission to be your authentic self". (There are clear parallels here with the situation in religious marketing (Shepherd 2004), where marketers who attempt to shape a religious offering for the market in line with the marketing principle are confronted by those who defend their religion because of its immutable articles of faith.) A closer reading of the personal branding literature, however, reveals a possible way out of this impasse.…”

“…Those who resisted the extension of marketing into such diverse fields as religion (Barna, 1990, Shawckuk et al, 1992, Cutler 1991, Shepherd 2004, politics (Newman 1992, Wring 1999, Lees-Marshment 2001, education (Kotler & Fox 1985), health (Kotler & Clarke 1987) and places (Kotler et al 1993, Smyth 1994, Allan et al 2005 appear to have lost, and the marketers appear to have won across a wide range of enterprises (Kotler 1982). Nevertheless, attempts to adopt both the marketing principle and marketing techniques in non-conventional settings is still the subject of considerable resistance and debate.…”

“…Nevertheless, attempts to adopt both the marketing principle and marketing techniques in non-conventional settings is still the subject of considerable resistance and debate. Shepherd (2004), for example, argues that there are considerable conceptual and practical difficulties in applying the marketing principle in both religious and political marketing, and that the use of certain marketing techniques in these arenas may be resisted on doctrinal and ideological grounds.…”

Consumer Response to Unethical Corporate Behavior: A Re-Examination and Extension of the Moral Decoupling Model

“…Not restricted to for-profit companies, branding can also apply to persons including politicians, sportsmen, celebrities or artists (Bal et al 2009;Miller and Laczniak 2011;Thomson 2006), places (Hankinson 2001;Olins 2002), political parties and religions (Shepherd 2004), non-profit-organizations and universities (Ewing and Napoli 2005), among others. The findings obtained here indicate that the model of moral decoupling may apply across a more diverse range of applications and contexts.…”

Attitudes toward Christian church retailing: A study in Cape Town, South Africa

“…Thus, the merging of the two concepts is likely to give rise to varying attitudes—as well as attitudes that differ from those toward traditional retailing. Second, faith is arguably the greatest source of meaning in the lives of numerous individuals (Shepherd, ) and products associated with faith may serve to demonstrate intangible constructs that are considered sacred in a religious sense (Aacker & Biel, ). Thus, as church retail products are provided in a faith‐related setting, it is possible that religious consumers may assign different values to church retail products than to traditional retail products.…”