“Marketing for a Better World:” Creating a Course to Equip Students with the Knowledge to Make a Positive Societal Impact Through Their Work

Over time, the conversation around the topic of business has shifted from being a source of money and a place for hard-workers, to fueling capitalism and only making the world a worse place, in a cycle which we cannot escape. Marketing is included in this shift of conversation and perspectives. People have begun to only see marketing as fuel for this capitalistic cycle, rather than a way in which we can break it. It has been established that, contrary to current beliefs, marketing has the power to have a positive impact on society and benefit the world (Better Marketing for a Better World, 2022). It’s up to the new generations of marketers to enact this positive and necessary change. Creating an academic course for students in the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University is a starting point for this change. This study aims to address the gap in education for business students, specifically in marketing, to understand how marketing can positively impact society.