Crafty Men: A Framework for Marketing Rooted in Catholic Social Teaching

Marketing activities make people desire things, a phenomenon often referred to as “demand creation.” Catholic Social Teaching (CST) historically cautions against demand creation purely as such. However, within its cautioning, CST also offers a way for businesses to think of marketing as a service, connecting human with needs (consumers/customers) to those with the capacity to meet those needs (a business with a product/service). By exploring CST–especially in Quadragesimo anno and Centesimus annus–we can create a framework for marketers (and consumers) to better assess the ‘craftiness’ of their marketing activities, particularly in terms of honest usefulness and creating occasion of growth.