Many marketing departments have experienced decreasing enrollments in marketing courses and difficulty recruiting students into the marketing major. This article examines and validates the Principles of Marketing class as significantly influencing students' overall perceptions of and attitudes toward marketing and the pursuit of marketing as their major or minor field of study. Contrary to expectations, the authors find that students leave the typical Principles of Marketing class with lowered perceptions and attitudes regarding the marketing discipline. A straightforward pedagogical approach to reversing this outcome is demonstrated. (Contains 6 tables.)