Everybody loves Cheerios
I’m always drawn to these kinds of studies, even though they’re never really insightful.
This one mainly backs up what everyone already knows about geography and age demographics among partisans (is it really any surprise that Democrats (read: young urbanites) favor Google while cable TV reigns in what are most likely Republican (read: older, more rural communities)? And is it more likely that Republicans like Lowe’s because they live in areas in which home improvement is common or because of some kind of partisan attachment?)
What is interesting in this study is the difference in overall support of any brand between the parties. Take Cheerios. It comes in 7th among Democrats and 10th among Republicans, but Cheerios “approval rating” among GOP voters is still 4% higher than it is among Democrats. Maybe just a result of those same younger, urban voters having greater access to a greater selection of brands?
Anyway, my favorite all-time result of these political marketing surveys was done around the ’04 election when it was determined that one of the top shows for passive GOP viewers was Will and Grace.
And just because demography is fun, I thought I’d throw in one of my old favorites, courtesy Latitudes and Attitudes*
Budweiser drinkers are “upper-middle class singles in their early 20s” who “work out a lot.”
Miller fans are “more urban, less educated, and slightly older” and are “found in the nation’s rust belt.”
Coors drinkers are “more educated, affluent, and likely to be married” and enjoy “reading books, watching movies, and [I didn’t make this up], working on political campaigns.”
*Book was published in ’94, so take this information as a bit of a time capsule back to the days of Friends and Forrest Gump.
In today’s breakfast-cereal age, there are two types of people in the world, those who like to look into their bowl at a sea of desiccated marshmallows, and those who prefer an unsweetened alternative made from whole-grain oats. I call them the Lucky Charmers and the Cheerioians.
Lucky Charmers hold their spoons overhand-style and make slurping noises as they eat. Sometimes, they even try to pluck the marshmallows out with their fingers, because the marshmallows bob up and down in the milk, which makes it very hard to get them out with just a spoon. Sometimes, they don’t even pour the cereal into a bowl and eat right out of the box.
Cheerioians, on the other hand, often eat their cereal entirely unadorned, even with sliced banana or strawberries. They use bowls from Pottery Barn, hold their spoons correctly, and read a major metropolitan newspaper or watch cable news while eating their breakfast cereal. They are lured by the boxes that promise lower cholesterol or healthier colons. They often drink orange juice from a glass, or coffee out of a mug.
…
A close look by a disarming columnist/commentator/author at the issues facing the candidates this year shows that one of these groups may decide the upcoming election. That group is the Cheerioians, because the Lucky Charmers are six years old, and therefore cannot vote. More importantly, they can’t read my columns, which unerringly describe the shape and fabric of the America that exists inside my own head.
Not only are Lucky Charmers and Cheerioians moving apart; they were never particularly close together. Cheerioians are getting older, while the Lucky Charmers remain trapped in their arrested development.
There was a time in all of our lives when we were Lucky Charmers, when we could ignore the consequences of a morning sucrose bomb on our metabolism, our dental health, our fight against Islamic terrorism. But now, post-9/11, we find ourselves heading into a more serious and sober world, a world where we can no longer turn away from the empty promises of artificially sweetened candy passing itself off as a healthy breakfast.Report
@disarming columnist/commentator/author,
Stop reading pundits before it is too late, you can do permanent damage to your hope in humanity.Report
@disarming columnist/commentator/author, David Brooks, you’ve been outed!Report