The mission of the Center for Marketing and Social Impact is to advance marketing’s societal contributions through research, education, and outreach
Bringing Academics and Business Together to Make a Difference
The Center for Marketing and Social Impact is known for doing work that matters. As a collaborative venture between faculty, researchers and our partners, the Center uses these efforts to elevate new ideas and policies that place marketing as a central agent of change. Our work in the areas of research, education and outreach are as nuanced as our faculty and researchers.
The Center activities focus on enhancing consumer welfare, informing public policy, and improving overall societal well-being through marketing practices that are economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable.
The Center provides business students, practitioners, and marketing academicians with meaningful opportunities to study marketing’s effects on society, thereby enhancing related educational programs, business practices, and public policy initiatives.
We strive to make the Center the premier source in the Western United States for information regarding social and public policy issues related to marketing.
Workshops and Training
The Center’s outreach efforts take many forms, including regular workshops and training events led by academics and partners from the Center. Our research-based workshops pair academics and thought leaders to discuss the latest in the field of marketing. Our training events are geared toward graduate students and community members who share our interest in advancing marketing as a tool for social impact.
No upcoming events
Resources
Research is a core part of the Center and its mission. Faculty members of the Center are active contributors to their field and use their research to produce resources that can be found here.
Research Support
The Center works with a variety of partners to conduct its research and produce new resources, workshops, and training opportunities. You can apply here to support our current and future research endeavors.
The Center offers post-doctoral fellowships that allow PhDs to continue refining their research skills while further exploring the idea of using marketing as a tool for social change. Post-docs will work with Center faculty members to help develop the Center’s research and advance its mission. Apply for our current position.
Marketing and Social Impact in the Classroom
Assistant Professor, Chris Berry, Ph.D., teaches Marketing and Society, a course sponsored by the Center. Berry designed the corse to challenge students’ definition of marketing and its role in society. Students will be expected to understand the way marketing impacts consumer and societal well-being through corporate marketing, macromarketing, social and nonprofit marketing, marketing and public policy, and anti-consumption. Students will be exposed to an array of topics related to marketing’s critical role in important national and international challenges, including food well-being (e.g., obesity, hunger) and other food-related topics (e.g., GMOs, natural foods), tobacco, cannabis, climate change and the environment, vulnerable target markets, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Course Objectives
- Students will demonstrate a developed knowledge of marketing’s scope and role in society, and develop an understanding of key terminology related to marketing and society
- Students will learn to explore and question the effects of marketing and consumption activities on consumer and societal well-being
- Students will demonstrate an ability to critically evaluate arguments, information, assumptions to develop effective solutions to problems facing marketing and society
- Students will demonstrate an ability to communicate ideas, issues, and solutions in an effective manner
"Many problems we face in society today are implicated by marketing and consumption activities. Yet, marketing tools can also be used to understand and address these challenges by improving consumer well-being, contributing to environmental sustainability, informing public policy, and the like. Thus, understanding marketing's potential impacts on consumer and societal well-being through various marketing efforts is an absolutely critical consideration for marketers in both for-profit and nonprofit sectors concerned with important societal challenges.
The Center for Marketing and Social Impact understands that marketing has ability to create lasting societal change by enhancing consumer welfare, informing public policy, and improving societal well-being. Supporting this objective, this course equips students to better understand marketing’s interface with important societal issues and how marketing can be used to improve society through an array of touchpoints."
— Assistant Professor, Chris Berry, Ph.D.