Reading 'the marketing revolution' through the prism of the FBI.

As has been widely acknowledged, Keith's (1960) paper that heralded the coming of the marketing revolution at Pillsbury has achieved seminal status within the marketing literature. Its historical narrative, on the other hand, has been repeatedly challenged: some doubt whether the marketing concept emerged as late as the 1950s and 1960s. Commensurate with this view, a variety of papers have documented key associated ideas such as customer centricity far earlier in the historical record, from the seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries respectively. The purpose of this paper is to contest Keith's own claims regarding the marketing practices adopted during the so-called 'marketing' and 'marketing control' eras. Drawing from the FBI file kept on the activities of The Pillsbury Company, this paper documents the participation of Pillsbury in anti-competitive practices that started in 1958, just two years prior to the publication of Keith's important article, and concluded in the mid 1960s, with Pillsbury being charged and fined for their involvement with a price-fixing cartel. By revealing a parallel narrative to that presented by Keith, this paper thus revises our understanding of an important contribution to marketing thought, as well as highlighting the occasionally legally problematic nature of interfirm cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]