This paper analyses how social marketing scholarship engages with the concept of empowerment and reflects critically on its usage and conceptualisations. Based on a systematic literature review, the paper discusses the importance of empowerment theory for increasing the emancipatory potential of social marketing in pursuit of community betterment and social change. The paper offers a definition of empowerment for the social marketing discipline, constructs a conceptual framework of empowerment for social marketers, and clarifies the main aspects and principles of empowerment theory relevant for the development of critical social marketing, thereby providing sources for future research, continuing critical reflections and critique.