So, THIS is why artists charge the way they do!

[IVstudios]

I think you are falling into a series of very common human traps:

a) Only really noticing the major failings of the marketing industry while overlooking it's general successes. Yes there are plenty of memorable marketing failures, but there are tones more forgettable successes. For every embarrassing marketing cock-up there are dozens of ads that do their job just fine.

b) Assuming other peoples failures are a always a result of their own stupidity and ineptitude. One of the most common things people do when they see someone else fail is attribute it to that person's shortcomings. Whereas when we ourselves* fail we attribute it to any number of outside factors. Why? Because we know all the factors that go into our own bad decisions. We know exactly what made us think that terrible call was a good idea at the time. Hell. maybe it was a good idea and it just didn't work out because of factors you couldn't foresee. You seem to be taking the entire, complex field of marketing and boiling it down to "Man, those marketing people are such scam artist."

c) You keep making reference to how other industries only get paid if they succeed while marketing people get paid no matter what. Not all marketing people work for huge firms and get paid thousands of dollars per campaign. Most of them are people working in the marketing department of some small to medium sized company. They spend all day calling different advertisers to see who will give them the best deal on a 5" x 4" color ad in a newspaper. If they make too many bad calls they get fired just like anyone else.

Edit: I should also say that I'm not claiming that there are no people in marketing that have no idea what they are doing and get by on fast talk and a big name, just that those people only represent a small portion of the industry. And that every industry has people like that.

[McDuffies]

My opinions are based on my experiences with people who work in marketing. This may be more limited source of information, but I consider it more immediate and reliable than, say, media or hearsay or whatever.

b) Assuming other peoples failures are a always a result of their own stupidity and ineptitude. One of the most common things people do when they see someone else fail is attribute it to that person's shortcomings. Whereas when we ourselves* fail we attribute it to any number of outside factors. Why? Because we know all the factors that go into our own bad decisions. We know exactly what made us think that terrible call was a good idea at the time. Hell. maybe it was a good idea and it just didn't work out because of factors you couldn't foresee. You seem to be taking the entire, complex field of marketing and boiling it down to "Man, those marketing people are such scam artist."

It's not that. It's just that a job implies responsibility. You get paid not only for the work you perform, but also for the responsibility for that work to be performed well. It may not always be your fault if it's not performed well, but that doesn't mean it's unfair - you took the responsibility in advance, right?
Of course everyone tries to weasel out of responsibility and blame someone else, in any given department. The ones who get away more easily are the ones in whose trade, effects of the work are more open to interpretation, success is more loosely defined and more factors go into final outcome than in other fields. It's not important if not all those factors were under your control, that was something you agreed to by accepting the job.

c) You keep making reference to how other industries only get paid if they succeed while marketing people get paid no matter what. Not all marketing people work for huge firms and get paid thousands of dollars per campaign. Most of them are people working in the marketing department of some small to medium sized company. They spend all day calling different advertisers to see who will give them the best deal on a 5" x 4" color ad in a newspaper. If they make too many bad calls they get fired just like anyone else.

Well, ok. My perspective is that in a company that has it's own marketing department, it's usually one of the best-paid departments, with better insurance and benefits, usually more than department that actually produces what the company sells (but I understand that in USA everything is outsorced so that's even worse). But I guess there's the side that you described too.

[IVstudios]

It's not that. It's just that a job implies responsibility. You get paid not only for the work you perform, but also for the responsibility for that work to be performed well. It may not always be your fault if it's not performed well, but that doesn't mean it's unfair - you took the responsibility in advance, right?
Of course everyone tries to weasel out of responsibility and blame someone else, in any given department. The ones who get away more easily are the ones in whose trade, effects of the work are more open to interpretation, success is more loosely defined and more factors go into final outcome than in other fields. It's not important if not all those factors were under your control, that was something you agreed to by accepting the job.

I'll agree it's generally fair that they be held accountable for the outcome of their campaigns even if they don't have control over every aspect of them, at least to an extent. But I also think it's important to recognize the difference between someone who knows what they're doing and gets screwed by circumstance and someone who is just BSing their way through a job. Granted in the marketing world it can be hard to tell the difference some times, but it's an important distinction.

I will grant that their may be a higher percentage of people in marketing than there are in other industries who BS their way through jobs. Selling things is what they do, and that includes selling themselves.

Although, there is also something to be said for marketers who are willing to take risks with a campaign that's a bit out there. Coming up with something new instead of doing the standard "Car drives down a windy country road, soothing narrator tells you how great this car is, 9% APR" and comes up with something weird. If they fail it is usually an embarrassing failure, but if they succeed you can get something very memorable.