Consumer Research Moves to Tackle Global Concerns
Indeed, globally there are a host of examples that illustrate the dire
need for a fresh front in consumer research.
In industrialised countries, there is now the emerging reality of ageing
populations. For researchers this has highlighted the need for research into
elderly consumers, where issues such as product safety and financial and
medical decision-making are key concerns.
In less industrialised countries meanwhile, there is more cultural
diversity and more rapid growth, which stresses identity dynamics, harmful
consumer behaviours and social marketing.
The new era of consumer research has to take place in four key areas...Firstly,
more research is needed to address consumer groups who may be particularly
vulnerable...The second area is consumer behaviours that are generally regarded
as personally or socially negative...The third area that needs focus is
consumer behaviours that are regarded as more generally positive which
transformative consumer research could seek to understand better in order to
encourage or guide...Finally, as the fourth category, a miscellany of consumer
behaviours were listed that...included: financial decision making, including
investing, saving, retirement planning; media consumption, especially
television, movies, and video games; product safety generally, and specifically
defective products; as well as product and package labelling (e.g. over-the-counter
drugs, nutritional information on food products).
'Tween' Traffic Safety Research Yields New Safety Tips
Large numbers of 8 to 12 year olds - dubbed
"tweens" by marketers - are needlessly at risk when riding in motor
vehicles according to a research report released today by the Automotive
Coalition for Traffic Safety (ACTS).
The report, based on demonstration projects in Dallas, TX and Joplin, MO, found that half of tweens surveyed do not always wear seat belts and many sit in front seats. The surveys also found that parents have more influence on tween behavior than many people realize. The news is significant because seat belt use overall begins to decline as children grow older.
These new insights came from the two pilot projects that were underwritten by ACTS. Though they are not necessarily representative of all tweens, they offered a snapshot of tween behavior for ACTS and two social marketing organizations, Marketing for Change, Inc. and the Academy for Educational Development, who analyzed the research and created the informative report for traffic safety advocates, communities and others interested in tween safety issues. Copies of the report can be downloaded from their new interactive website, http://www.tweensafety.org.
Black Gay Caucus Launches HIV/AIDS Campaign
The Chicago Black Gay Men’s Caucus wants to normalize
knowledge of one’s HIV status, Kanye West-style.
The caucus launched a new HIV/AIDS social marketing
campaign, “I know. Do You Know?” on Feb. 7 at the South Side’s Steelelife
Gallery. Those present at the unveiling—from party promoters and politicians to
clergy and public health officials—were proof that a historic movement in the
Black community had begun.
Green wrote and starred in the campaign’s two-minute hip-hop
music video that will be available on an interactive Web site. There will also
be television, radio and print ads. Green believes hip-hop, which has a very
strong presence in the Black community, is the perfect medium because it
doesn’t “preach.”
“We need to normalize [ knowing your status ] and make
people more aware that there are people in the community living with HIV,”
Green said. “We need to let people know they are not alone.”
Technorati Tags: Consumer Research, Health Communication, Health Education, HIV/AIDS, Public Health, Social Marketing, Traffic Safety
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