Rethinking Kotler and Levy's Legacy

Abstract

Marketing scholarship has long drawn on “Broadening the Concept of Marketing” by Philip Kotler and Sidney J. Levy (1969) call to broaden the concept of marketing beyond commercial exchange. While this intervention significantly expanded the field's scope and relevance, it also encouraged the widespread diffusion of marketing logic into social, political, and cultural domains with limited reflection on its broader consequences. Under contemporary conditions characterized by digital platforms, behavioral influence technologies, and ecological constraints, the question is no longer whether marketing should expand, but how such expansion should be understood and evaluated. This study revisits the broadening thesis as a conceptual refresher rather than a historical critique. Drawing on macromarketing, sustainability, and political economy perspectives, we argue that marketing should be understood as a socially consequential system that not only responds to preferences but also helps shape values, agency, and imagined futures. We propose a normative–sustainability framework that advances four propositions: marketing participates in value formation; consumer agency is contextually conditioned; marketing expansion requires ethical and ecological limits; and marketing plays a role in shaping future-oriented expectations. By reframing marketing as a responsible and consequential social force rather than a purely instrumental practice, the study clarifies the continuing relevance of the marketing concept for debates on sustainability, governance, and societal well-being.