consuming therefore I am.

Year 2025, Volume: 22 Issue: 1, 270 - 287, 27.03.2025

Atila Yuksel

https://doi.org/10.24010/soid.1653762

Abstract

Athough marketing has a long history both as an academic discipline and as a business practice, it remains one of the fields most subject to critical questioning. Although marketing is positioned as the main means of meeting consumer/customer needs and gaining competitive advantage in the modern business world, its epistemological foundations, methodological orientation and ethical dimension are subject to serious criticism. First of all, the ongoing debate on whether marketing is a science or an art reveals the discipline's theoretical ambiguity and methodological directionlessness. More critical, however, is the fact that marketing is essentially shaped as a commercial process and therefore becomes a tool that reproduces the hegemonic codes of the economic system. Marketing, which is directly related to capitalist expansion processes, reduces the consumer from a subject to an object and serves profit maximization through tools that manipulate individuals' cognitive and emotional processes. In particular, the instrumentalization of the concept of sustainability within marketing practices shows that it has turned into a market-oriented discourse rather than an ethical principle.

Keywords

marketing, markating ideology, marketingmania

Tüketiyorum, Öyleyse Varım: Pazarlama - Gereklilik ya da Manipülasyon? (1)

Abstract

Pazarlama, hem akademik bir disiplin hem de işletme pratiği olarak uzun bir geçmişe sahip olsa da, eleştirel sorgulamalara en fazla maruz kalan alanlardan biri olmayı sürdürmektedir. Modern iş dünyasında tüketici/müşteri ihtiyaçlarını karşılamanın ve rekabet avantajı elde etmenin temel aracı olarak konumlandırılsa da, pazarlamanın epistemolojik temelleri, metodolojik yönelimi ve etik boyutu ciddi eleştirilere konu olmaktadır (bkz. Baudrillard, 1981; Brownlie & Saren, 1992; Cherrier & Murray, 2015; Dixon & Blois, 1983; Erdoğan vd., 2011; Ewen, 2001; Geniş, 2022; Gustafsson & Ghambarpour, 2022; Heath & Heath, 2008; Korai & Soiden, 2019; Kotler & Keller, 2016; Levitt, 1960; MacDonald, 2003; McKenna, 1991; Mitchell, 2001; Papatya & Özdemir, 2019; Pollay, 1986; Pollay & Mittal, 1993; Sheth & Sisodia, 2006; Shor, 2004; Stoeckl & Luedicke, 2015; Tadajewski, 2022). Öncelikle, pazarlamanın bir bilim mi yoksa sanat mı olduğu konusundaki süregelen tartışmalar, disiplinin teorik belirsizliğini ve metodolojik yönsüzlüğünü gözler önüne sermektedir. Ancak daha kritik olan nokta, pazarlamanın özünde ticari bir süreç olarak şekillenmiş olması ve bu nedenle ekonomik sistemin hegemonik kodlarını yeniden üreten bir araç hâline gelmesidir. Kapitalist genişleme süreçleriyle doğrudan ilişkili olan pazarlama, tüketiciyi özneden nesneye indirgemekte, bireylerin bilişsel ve duygusal süreçlerini manipüle eden araçlarla kâr maksimizasyonuna hizmet etmektedir. Özellikle sürdürülebilirlik kavramının pazarlama pratikleri içinde araçsallaştırılması, etik bir ilke olmaktan çok, piyasa yönelimli bir söyleme dönüştüğünü göstermektedir. Aynı şekilde, pazarlamanın tüketici davranışlarını yönlendirme ve şekillendirme gücü, demokratik tercihler ile bireysel özerkliğe yönelik bir tehdit oluşturmakta, tüketici egemenliği mitini üretirken gerçekte bireylerin seçimlerini yapılandıran bir tahakküm mekanizmasına dönüşmektedir. Bu noktada, pazarlama alanında hâkim olan ana akım paradigmanın, tüketici haklarını ve etik sorumlulukları gözeten alternatif yaklaşımlar lehine yeniden yapılandırılmasına duyulan ihtiyaç kaçınılmaz hâle gelmektedir.

Keywords

pazarlama, pazarlama ideolojisi, pazarlamania, arzu medeniyeti, pazarlamave demokrasi, eleştirel bakış

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