Both anecdotal and evidential testimonies posit marketing as a “wicked” endeavor, in thrall to sales and profit and at odds with society's needs. Using social identity theory as our primary frame of reference we look to obtain some foreground understanding of those flowing through the educational/occupational transition system and towards this occupation. We explore how aspiring marketers perceive both marketing and marketing practitioners and evaluate how those perceptions contribute to a sense of social-self at an early-stage of career formulation. Our aim is to evaluate the potential for a link between reported marketer behavior, occupational perceptions and group character. A qualitative/quantitative mixed-model research approach is adopted combining both projective techniques and personality testing. Results, derived from UK university cohorts spanning three levels of study, suggest respondents focus primarily on externally oriented aspects of marketing work, with occupational aesthetics and conspicuous representation seen as both object and subject of a marketer role. Respondents self-report as strong on traits associated with promotion and persuasiveness but less on those related to an espoused creativity. We conclude there is evidence suggesting the study group perceives being a marketer at least as important as doing what marketers do and discuss the implications this might have for how and why marketing is practiced as it is.

轶事和证据都将营销视为一种“邪恶的”努力，受制于销售和利润，与社会需求不符。使用社会认同理论作为我们的主要参考框架，我们希望获得对那些流经教育/职业过渡系统并走向这一职业的人的一些前景理解。我们探讨有抱负的营销人员如何看待营销和营销从业者，并评估这些看法如何在职业制定的早期阶段促成社会自我意识。我们的目标是评估报告的营销人员行为、职业认知和群体性格之间存在联系的可能性。采用结合投影技术和人格测试的定性/定量混合模型研究方法。结果，来自跨越三个研究级别的英国大学队列，表明受访者主要关注营销工作的外部导向方面，将职业美学和显眼表现视为营销人员角色的对象和主题。受访者自我报告在与晋升和说服力相关的特征上表现得很好，但在与所信奉的创造力相关的特征上则较少。我们得出的结论是，有证据表明研究小组认为成为一名营销人员至少与做营销人员所做的事情一样重要，并讨论了这可能对如何以及为什么实施营销产生的影响。职业美学和显眼的表现被视为营销人员角色的对象和主题。受访者自我报告在与晋升和说服力相关的特征上表现得很好，但在与所信奉的创造力相关的特征上则较少。我们得出的结论是，有证据表明研究小组认为成为一名营销人员至少与做营销人员所做的事情一样重要，并讨论了这可能对如何以及为什么实施营销产生的影响。职业美学和显眼的表现被视为营销人员角色的对象和主题。受访者自我报告在与晋升和说服力相关的特征上表现得很好，但在与所信奉的创造力相关的特征上则较少。我们得出的结论是，有证据表明研究小组认为成为一名营销人员至少与做营销人员所做的事情一样重要，并讨论了这可能对如何以及为什么实施营销产生的影响。