Question

Marketing Debate #1

Does Marketing Create or Satisfy Needs?

Take a position and be thorough: Marketing shapes consumer needs and wants versus marketing reflects the needs and wants of consumers.

Answer 1

While marketing both create and satisfy needs, it plays a crucial role in the creation process. Through its tools such as advertising, product placement and innovation, the foremost objective of marketing of creating demand is satisfied. Marketing also employs several other techniques such as market segmentation to further increase the demand for specialized and targeted products. Apart from staples and basic necessities of life, the demand for rest of the things needs to be stimulated. Such stimulation is provided by marketing efforts of the firms. Further, many needs are latent or hidden, marketing helps in making them more overt and thus creates needs.