Impoverished consumers, Catholic social teaching, and distributive justice

Consistent with the goals of the special issue of Journal of Business Research, this paper examines the 1986 pastoral letter of the U.S. Catholic bishops titled, Economic Justice for All, and its impact on marketing practice for the last 25 years. The brief literature review places this text within the larger context of Catholic Social Teaching and marketing practice, teasing out four testable propositions for examining social and distributive justice. The evidence presented from a variety of secondary sources reveals a lack of sustained progress to meet the goals inherent in the bishops' appeal. To advance their arguments, modifications to the ways marketers are educated, incentivized, and reviewed are posited, with a final secular way of considering these principles.