Marketing and the Common Good: Implications of \u3cem\u3eCaritas in Veritate\u3c/em\u3e

This paper extends the authors’ previous work on applying Catholic Social Teachings to issues in marketing to the specific question of the common good. Approaches to studying the social impact of marketing and the challenge of adequately defining the common good are discussed. Attention is next given to key vectors of Catholic Social Teaching and their application to ethical issues in marketing. The focus of the analysis is on specific sections in Caritas in Veritate, Pope Benedict XVI’s recent encyclical devoted to providing principles for dealing with the ongoing global economic crisis. A discussion of how these principles might be applied to business and public policy follows. We close with an evaluation of this application