Marketers need to pay more attention to how marketing practises normalise the consumption of products that are known to be harmful to public health and social well-being, University of Otago – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka researchers argue.
A new paper led by Associate Professor Leah Watkins and Professor Rob Aitken, of the Otago Business School, shows how industries such as tobacco, alcohol, gambling, and ultra-processed food have invested heavily in marketing strategies, including digital and social media channels, that increase the consumption of products associated with disease, addiction, and social harm.
These strategies also disproportionately affect disadvantaged consumers and undermine traditional regulatory safeguards.
Published in the Journal of Macromarketing , the paper comes amid growing concern about public health crises, rising inequality and accelerating climate change.
“Rather than focusing on individual consumer choice, we explore how marketing shapes consumption environments by influencing norms, expectations and habits - particularly among vulnerable populations,” Associate Professor Watkins says.
“The harms associated with certain product categories are not incidental or accidental side effects, but well-documented, foreseeable outcomes of large-scale marketing systems.”
Associate Professor Watkins says marketing’s role in amplifying harmful consumption has become impossible to ignore.
“Marketing in these industries increasingly positions itself as purpose-driven and socially responsible,” she says.
However, “these tactics complicate regulatory responses and reduce public awareness of the health and social consequences of consuming these products”.
Professor Aitken says there needs to be stronger scrutiny of marketing practices linked to harmful products.
The researchers are calling for greater regulatory oversight of marketing communications, the use of health and social impact assessments, and a renewed emphasis on ethics within marketing education.
“Clearly, the marketing of products like tobacco, alcohol and ultra-processed foods contributes to harm,” he says.
“This requires a re-evaluation of both the tactics and strategies employed by marketing, as well as the systemic role that marketing plays in affecting public health and social well-being.
“Divestment from harmful product categories is not only an ethical necessity but increasingly a strategic one, as regulators, investors and consumers demand responsibility and accountability from business.”
Journal of Macromarketing
Literature review
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Marketing's Moral Myopia: A Normative Critique of Harmful Product Marketing through the Lens of the AMA Definition
11-Mar-2026