Marketing shapes consumer needs and wants versus marketing merely reflects the needs and wants of customers

Marketing has often been defined in terms of satisfying customers’ needs and wants. Critics, however, maintain that marketing goes beyond that and creates needs and wants that did not exist before. They feel marketers encourage consumers to spend more money than they should on goods and services they do not really need.

Take a position: Marketing shapes consumer needs and wants versus marketing merely reflects the needs and wants of customers.