Marketing under the pressure of humanity: an analysis of the enduring values of the modern consumer

The paper examines the transformations of contemporary marketing through the lens of the trust crisis between companies and consumers, arguing that power should shift from organizations to consumers, with human attention becoming the main economic resource. Despite technological progress, current marketing strategies remain dominated by automation and symbolic manipulation, losing the human dimension of the consumer relationship. The analysis revisits Philip Kotler's principles on the deeply human nature of marketing and identifies five perennial consumer needs: love, belonging, self-interest protection, meaning, and respect. It concludes that the future of marketing belongs to companies capable of replacing persuasion with empathy, control with transparency, and technological performance with relational ethics.