Thana-Marketing Mix

Term coined by Mark Wickham - (Thana is short for a Latin word "Thanatos", which means 'dark' or 'bad'....) Refers to the systematic, covert, and (initially) profitable maltreatment of target customers through the use of misleading and deceptive marketing practises. A Thana marketing mix represents a 'hidden set' of interrelated Ps (the "8Ps that dare not speak their name" )that potentially comprise a mix of management conduct and philosophy that corrupts the marketing concept and underpins society's contempt for marketing and immoral business practices. Thana-Marketing Mix categories include: (1) Misleading representations; (2) Misleading pricing; (3) Price-fixing; (4) Anti-competitive practices; and (5) Harassment. The eight (Thanet-Marketing mix P's suggested by Mark Wickham in a Journal article "Thana-marketing strategy: exploring the 8ps that dare not speak their name" are: Promise breaking - Any promise by the firm to provide a product or service (or any after-sales services) with no intention to do so. ; Postponement - Any act that serves to delay or deny the supply of information/products/services to the consumer. It may also refer to a firm’s attempt to deny the consumer their right to complain, cancel orders or seek compensation for damages. ; Procrastination - Any act that serves to delay the firm’s agreed rectification of a product or service failure. It may also extend to delaying a consumer’s wish to cancel their contract/relationship with the firm; Pretence - Any act or omission by a firm that serves to establish a false expectation in the consumer’s mind (upon which the consumer acts) concerning the delivery/operation/return of a product or service. For example: provide false or misleading information; the firm relying upon ambiguity in contract negotiations; including illegal caveats in contract negotiations.; Presumption Any act by a firm that assumes facts in to a transaction not agreed to by the consumer. For example: that an agreement included a minimum term contract that the consumer must honour; that the firm may charge additional fees due to ambiguous clauses included in any fine-print.; Persecution - Any punitive act or threat by a firm that seeks to bully the consumer in to ceasing their actions or claims against it. Examples include: cancelling services, actual reporting of the consumer to credit agencies, suspending the client’s services but continuing to charge their credit cards/bank accounts; Pressure - Any act by a firm that attempts to bully the consumer into submission. For example: harassment for ‘non-payments’ of disputed accounts; service staff trained in the delivery of verbal abuse; threats to report the consumer ; Protestation - Any act by the firm that denies responsibility for any wrongdoing and/or product or service failures. It may extend to the firm shifting blame for any obvious product or service failures to the consumer and their role in the transaction. For example: blaming the consumer’s computer set-up or software for Internet service failures; blaming after-sales service failures on 3rd parties to the transaction.