| Chapter 1: | Introduction |
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and societal implications of marketplace advocacy, much of which is currently devoted to energy and/or environmental issues, may be quite significant.
Marketplace advocacy uses marketing communication techniques to promote a business’s contribution to society while addressing public concerns about the business’s product or the manufacturing processes that are used to create it (Arens, 2004; Miller, 2010; Miller & Sinclair, 2009a; Miller & Sinclair, 2009b; Sinclair & Irani, 2005; Sinclair & Miller, 2010), usually by appealing to commonly held values (Bostdorff & Vibbert, 1994). For example, a GE “Ecomagination” full-page print ad that appeared in a favorite weekly news magazine cited the benefit of “cleaner and clearer air for all.” The ad featured a large locomotive juxtaposed with a single sunflower with the following copy:
The ad explicitly associates GE’s program of innovation with values by referencing The Little Engine That Could, the classic children’s story about the value of determination in overcoming seemingly insurmountable challenges. In 2006, more than $150 million was spent on media buys for the GE “Ecomagination” campaign alone, making GE’s efforts to bridge technology and the environment the 119th largest campaign of the year in terms of advertising spending (Ad Age, 2007). Of course, this was just a fraction of the $1.8 billion that was spent to advertise all GE companies and brands (Ad Age, 2007).
Despite the proliferation of marketplace advocacy campaigns, there has been little quantitative professional or academic research published evaluating the influence of this form of communication on audiences