Nations Quest for Peace and Alignment to the New Normal: Any Roles for the Marketing Profession?

Abstract

Peace is one of the most desirable ingredients required for the existence of every human community, and the need for it has quadrupled as a result of the multiple challenges facing the world today. These challenges have further been exacerbated by the need to adjust to the new normal in our contemporary society which nexuses with business operations. The chances for peaceful societies have been fatally sacrificed at the altar of greed, selfish inclinations and the desires for self-aggrandizement of man; and these have made peace a scare commodity. The absence of peace has been linked with catastrophic effects, including business turbulence; which is the reason why deliberate efforts are constantly made by individuals, governments and religious institutions to foster peace. Sadly, the outcomes of these initiatives have not been much to be desired hence the need for a paradigm shift. This paper examined extant literature on the place of the marketing profession in nations’ quest for peace. Peace like every commodity can be marketed; hence the argument of this paper that the marketing mix variables of product, price, place, promotion, preach, propagate and patronize readily find application in marketing peace. This paper concluded on the note that the clamor for a paradigm shift in the quest for peace in nations is in the right direction. More so, such shift must include the involvement of marketing professionals into the army of global peace seekers. Therefore, this paper recommends that national governments should promote matters that foster unity, develop a common national value and deploy social marketing programs. Furthermore, corporate organisations should consider peace marketing as a worthy cause to embrace, and firms should be willing to finance peace building activities as well as form coalitions of mega corporations for the promotion and protection of global peace.