This article is classified "Real"
The Institute of Marketing defines marketing as "the management process
responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer
requirements profitably".
This definition is, however, a little cagey. A more honest definition of
marketing can instead be formulated to define marketing as:
a) the process by which a product is created that people actually
want and will in fact buy and use without being forced to or
conned into it; and
b) the process by which this product is then sold to people
who don't actually want the product, and who would never
otherwise think of using it and especially not buying it.
While section (a) of marketing appears to have merit, this is wholly
cancelled out by section (b). Indeed, in many cases, section (a) is ignored
completely and only (b) heeded; in these cases, the worth of marketing is
less than zero, instead of merely being nothing.
Marketing is, in essence, a con.