It might be surprising to observe that your wonderings in relation to “how much of marketing is about manipulation” was well placed considering that marketing or sales is not even based on manipulation. Blair Kidwell et al in their study “Emotional Intelligence in Marketing Exchange” try to narrow marketing to be based on some emotion. I personally see this as a very poor interpretation of what they might have observed about human responsiveness to situations about them.

When we are born, we are immediately governed by the instinct to want to live on. To be able to do this we learn to communicate effectively in order to achieve our objectives. We start with our parents, then with our friends and eventually with total strangers we know little about. We market/sell our ideas with only one objective in mind – need to live on.

Sales is the end product of Marketing; Sales is the means to the end – achieve our desire to live on. So whether it is Sales or Marketing we are doing, we are only making a living; we are satisfying that need to live on.

So classmate Sadineni because this was the reality you were seeing subconsciously – something the author of the article you sited above were not seeing as they were immersed in their attempt to interpret human responses – you simply had to run into conflict with them. You saw reality; they didn’t.

What I have really been saying is that Marketing is not just our intelligence acting emotionally, it is our instinct – rooted on need to live on – that is directing our actions to be effective in our communication with our customers. It is a means to an end.

Fortunately, some people are born with excellent communication skills. Education then comes along and refines it. To be effective they learn the art of being able to help their customers to see that they need what they are offering (marketing to) them or that it will be the right action to change their minds to buy whatever the salesperson is selling.

In the end the customer feels they made wise decisions (not manipulated into making their decisions – they feel good about themselves). Winners, wise Meanwhile the Market agent or Sales person feels happy to have achieved their objective – successfully made a living.