Summary:
Sustainable consumption should foster ethical deliberation among audiences to effectively address socio-environmental crises. However, studies on current sustainable communication approaches reveal their insufficiency in transforming marketing systems. In response, we conceptualize moral dramas as a novel sustainable communication genre with the potential to facilitate ethical deliberation. Moral dramas are narrative texts that expose environmental and social breaches, evoke strong emotional responses, and offer pathways for redemption and ethical transformation. Focusing on ethical online marketplaces—an emerging sustainable enterprise—we critically examine the conditions under which moral dramas can serve as a normatively appropriate genre for sustainable communication. Finally, we discuss the implications for scholarship on sustainable communication and transformative marketing.
Spanish layman's summary:
Los dramas morales son un género efectivo en la comunicación ambiental en la medida en que facilitan la deliberación ética. Sin embargo, presentan limitaciones para una verdadera transformación de sistemas.
English layman's summary:
We conceptualize moral dramas as a novel sustainable communication genre with the potential to facilitate ethical deliberation and we critically examine the conditions under which moral dramas can serve as a normatively appropriate genre.
Keywords: responsible marketing, sustainable communication, narratives, ethical marketplaces, moralization
JCR-JIF Impact Factor and WoS quartile: 2,500 - Q3 (2025)
DOI reference:
https://doi.org/10.1177/02761467251349995
Published on paper: September 2025.
Published on-line: June 2025.
Citation:
C. Valor, L. Ronda, C. Abril, "Moral Dramas as a Sustainable Communication Genre: An Analysis of its (Dys)Functionalities", Journal of Macromarketing, Vol. 45, nº. 3, pp. 107 - 431, September 2025. [Online: June 2025] doi: 10.1177/02761467251349995
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