Teens On Obsolescence, The Anonymous 9, Etc.

Hoping to market gas-engine cars to teenagers? Could be a tough sell. In this year's Lemelson-MIT Invention Index survey, which measures attitudes toward invention and innovation, teens were asked to say which of four technologies is the most likely to become obsolete in the next 10 years: gas-engine cars, compact discs, desktop computers or landline telephones. A plurality of respondents (33 percent) said gas-engine cars are the likeliest to be goners by then. CDs ran second for this dubious honor (26 percent), followed by desktop computers (22 percent) and landline phones (17 percent). Elsewhere in the poll, teens were asked to identify the career field in which they're most interested. Medicine/health care and the arts got the most votes (17 percent apiece). Engineering ran third (cited by 14 percent), with a strong showing among boys (24 percent) offsetting a negligible vote among girls (4 percent). Nine percent of the teenagers picked science; 8 percent chose business. (We'll assume they regard advertising as one of the arts and not as a mere business.) When Europeans feel like badmouthing the U.S.—and when do they not?—one stock method is to decry the supposed dog-eat-dog nature of American society. It's true that the U.S. doesn't have as much governmental social-support apparatus as do the more statist European countries. What the U.S. does have is a vast array of volunteer organizations that mobilize Americans' personal efforts. Observers who fail to notice that fact are overlooking an important aspect of life in this country. A study by the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics quantifies the amount of volunteering in the U.S. Some 65 million people volunteered through or for an organization at least once between September 2004 and September 2005. (The report excludes ad hoc efforts that aren't channeled through an organization.) Women were a bit more likely than men to have volunteered during that period (32 percent vs. 25 percent). Despite the wear and tear that kids cause, the presence of minor children correlates with a higher incidence of volunteering: Among adults with kids under 18 at home, 37 percent volunteered, vs. 26 percent of those without kids. Educational attainment was a dividing line, too: 46 percent of college graduates volunteered, vs. 21 percent of those with a high school diploma and no college and 10 percent of those without a high school diploma. The amount of time such work entails isn't trivial. "Volunteers spent a median of 50 hours volunteering during the period from September 2004 to September 2005," says the report.Please don't eat the rich. Think, after all, of the good cheer they bring to opinion polls about the state of the economy. While the general run of Americans remain gloomy about the matter, despite all the empirical evidence that contradicts them, more upper-crust consumers have the good grace to feel the economy is doing fine. In polling by The Luxury Institute among people with at least $200,000 in yearly income and $750,000 in assets, 47 percent said economic conditions now are "excellent" or "good." Moreover, 52 percent of well-to-do investors believe their personal net worth will increase this year. Be nice and hope they're right. As they shiver through mid-winter, some folks doubtless take solace in knowing their summer-vacation plans are settled. In a Harris Poll on vacation intentions, 9 percent of adults said they already have plans in place for the coming summer's holiday. Another 24 percent have tentative plans, but might change their minds. Fifty percent have no plans as yet, while 17 percent said they won't be taking a vacation this summer. The vast majority of respondents said they'll vacation in the U.S., with California and Florida getting the most mentions. Among people who plan to vacation outside the U.S., Mexico is the most popular destination, followed by the U.K., Italy, Canada and France.It's usually considered bad form to depict the client's product as a menace to society. But when the product is a massive sandwich known as the Shmonster (playing off the name of the convenience-store chain that markets it, Sheetz), a degree of menace is de rigueur. The Neiman Group of Harrisburg, Pa., provides this in a monster-filled campaign to introduce the sandwich. Consumers should consider themselves warned.Amid the furor over Medicare's new prescription-drug benefit and the great bafflement it's causing, you might think such medications are mainly the province of old folks. It's true that seniors are more likely than younger folks to use such drugs: In a Gallup poll on the topic, 88 percent of people 65 and older said they're current users of prescription medications. But so did 61 percent of those age 50-64 and 40 percent of those 30-49. Even in the 18-29 cohort, 27 percent said they're currently taking a prescription medication. In all, a narrow of majority of adults (52 percent) said they are now using at least one prescription drug. Women are markedly more likely than men to say they're doing so (60 percent vs. 44 percent). There's not an enormous gender gap among older Americans on this matter, but there's a sharp disparity among younger ones: 46 percent of women age 18-49 are current users of prescription drugs, vs. 26 percent of men in that age bracket. Most people now using such drugs are unlikely to stop doing so in the near future, to judge from the nature of the conditions they're remedying (see chart above). Want to hire one of those prestigious Supreme Court justices as a celebrity endorser? Better not. A poll conducted for FindLaw.com by Ipsos Public Affairs indicates that none of the nine justices have standing to fill such a role. The survey asked adults to name as many of the current Supremes as they could. A majority of the respondents (57 percent) couldn't name a single one of them. Sandra Day O'Connor, who's about to quit the bench, fared best (recalled by 27 percent). Also scoring in double digits: Clarence Thomas (21 percent), the rookie justice John Roberts (16 percent), Antonin Scalia (13 percent) and Ruth Bader Ginsberg (12 percent). John Paul Stevens and Stephen Breyer fared worst (3 percent each), with David Souter (5 percent) and Anthony Kennedy (7 percent) scoring just slightly better. Make what you will of the fact that the Court's consistently conservative members are more widely recalled by the public than its consistently liberal members.

Brand Marketing

Teens On Obsolescence, The Anonymous 9, Etc.

Mark Dolliver

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Mark Dolliver