Page 102 - Marketing Management

COLLECTING INFORMATION AND FORECASTING DEMAND | CHAPTER 3 79

TABLE 3.4 Favorite Leisure-Time Activities

1995 2008
% %
Reading 28 30
TV watching 25 24
Spending time with family/kids 12 20
Going to movies 8 8
Fishing 10 7
Computer activities 2 7
Gardening 9 5
Renting movies 5 5
Walking 8 6
Exercise (aerobics, weights) 2 8

Source: Harris Interactive, “Spontaneous, Unaided Responses to: ‘What Are Your Two or Three Most Favorite Leisure-Time Activities?’”
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=980. Base: All Adults.

• Views of organizations. After a wave of layoffs and corporate scandals, organizational loyalty
has declined. 42 Companies need new ways to win back consumer and employee confidence.
They need to ensure they are good corporate citizens and that their consumer messages
are honest. 43
• Views of society. Some people defend society (preservers), some run it (makers), some take
what they can from it (takers), some want to change it (changers), some are looking for some-
thing deeper (seekers), and still others want to leave it (escapers). 44 Consumption patterns
often reflect these social attitudes. Makers are high achievers who eat, dress, and live well.
Changers usually live more frugally, drive smaller cars, and wear simpler clothes. Escapers and
seekers are a major market for movies, music, surfing, and camping.
• Views of nature. Business has responded to increased awareness of nature’s fragility and
finiteness by producing wider varieties of camping, hiking, boating, and fishing gear such as
boots, tents, backpacks, and accessories.
• Views of the universe. Most U.S. citizens are monotheistic, although religious conviction and
practice have waned through the years or been redirected into an interest in evangelical move-
ments or Eastern religions, mysticism, the occult, and the human potential movement.
Other cultural characteristics of interest to marketers are the high persistence of core cultural
values and the existence of subcultures. Let’s look at both.

HIGH PERSISTENCE OF CORE CULTURAL VALUES Most people in the United States
still believe in working, getting married, giving to charity, and being honest. Core beliefs and
values are passed from parents to children and reinforced by social institutions—schools,
churches, businesses, and governments. Secondary beliefs and values are more open to change.
Believing in the institution of marriage is a core belief; believing people should marry early is a
secondary belief.
Marketers have some chance of changing secondary values, but little chance of changing core
values. The nonprofit organization Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) does not try to stop
the sale of alcohol but promotes lower legal blood-alcohol levels for driving and limited operating
hours for businesses that sell alcohol.
Although core values are fairly persistent, cultural swings do take place. In the 1960s, hippies,
the Beatles, Elvis Presley, and other cultural phenomena had a major impact on hairstyles, clothing,
sexual norms, and life goals. Today’s young people are influenced by new heroes and activities: the
alternative rock band Green Day, the NBA’s LeBron James, and snowboarder and skateboarder
Shaun White.