The sorcerer's apprentice? Alchemy, seduction and confusion in modern marketing

Dr Karin Newman

Adapted from the author's inaugural lecture on becoming professor of Services Marketing at Middlesex University Business School in May 2001.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice? Alchemy, Seduction and Confusion in Modern Marketing

Karin NewmanMiddlesex University

Introduction

You may be familiar with the legend of the sorcerer's apprentice. Left to his own devices while the sorcerer was away, the young fool meddled with his master's equipment and before he knew it had let loose forces which he couldn't control. It is one of a family of myths including Pandora's box and even Aladdin's lamp which has a common moral: that reckless, thoughtless humankind meddles with the established order of things at its peril. With the world now facing...

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