Starting with the philosophical correlations of key marketing concepts (needs/wants/desires)
which serve as the backbone of consumerism, today’s dominant ideology, this chapter seeks to
outline the implications of the present economic crisis and the possible effects for the future of
consumerism as well as the marketing discipline itself. Philosophical ethics and economics
appear to be parting their ways in affluent societies.The separation of marketing from economics,
its subsequent development as an independent field and its focus on the individual behavior
alone have resulted in an overemphasis on individual desires at the expense of value. Thus,
consumption is not being held responsible for collective welfare and the achievement of social
objectives. The chapter argues that the ongoing crisis in the modern world is unique in that it
signifies a possible end of the “false desires” based consumer culture edifice alongside the bubble
finance-driven economies. Reforms in the way we see marketing and consumption are necessary
in order to reduce and diversify the Schumpeterian (1947) creative/destructive effects of
evolutionary forms of the present economic system, while fulfilling the Aristotelian economic
ideal of creating wealth, in such a way as to make every individual a better person and the world
a better place to live, rather than just to consume in.