How to Market Things That Are Harmful: An Exploration of Destructive Consumption and Consumer Behavior

Abstract

This study focuses on why consumers choose to engage in destructive and harmful consumption and how it can possibly aid businesses that engage in the selling of products that align with this category of goods, ideas, and services. Desired outcomes from this information are for these organizations to have more precise target market strategies, be able to practice advertising more efficiently, and to understand what types of products and industries have a higher competitive advantage. In order to explore and provide this information, the four P’s of marketing, the marketing environment, and cognitive processes were examined along with a quantitative analysis of Indiana State University students in order to study a small sample of the entire U.S.A.’s population and explore relevant trends of the students’ destructive consumption. After analyzing the results within Microsoft Excel, important findings were that products that fulfill physiological and self-actualization needs are consumed the most, and that an individual’s sex does not affect the types of potentially harmful products that he or she may choose to consume.