Ethical Branding and Marketing

6     Is Academe Cheapened by Branding

Universities and Programs?

Larry Hubbell

Introduction

Check Your Understanding

Guild

A guild is an organization, originated by merchants during the Middle Ages, that provided mutual support to its members.

In this chapter, I explore whether university officials should use branding to market universities and programs. Many academics are opposed to its use, arguing that branding and marketing in general are fundamentally antithetical to the values and norms that should guide a university. They liken the university to a relatively insular body – a “Republic of Scholars” – with its origins in the medieval guilds (Driori, Delmestri, & Oberg, 2016). Krause (1996) argues that the academic profession retains ...