We all know, or should know, the uselessness of making generalized comments about different age groups. That said we (and I include myself as much as anybody else) keep doing it.
For instance, a couple of blog posts back I
wrote about a new ad for Activia and how it would be popular with different age
groups. Nonsense.
What I should have said was that the ad will be popular with certain socio
economic groups in different age groups.
The connection between socio economic group
– unhealthy lifestyle - and age of dying
is very well made in a new report from the Kings Fund (Clustering of unhealthybehaviours over time)
Let me quote from the report
The overall proportion of the population
that engages in three or four unhealthy behaviours (drinking too much, not
taking exercise, eating the wrong food and smoking) has declined significantly,
from around 33% of the UK population in 2003 to around 25% by 2008.
However, these reductions have been seen
mainly among those in higher socio-economic and educational groups: people with
no qualifications were more than five times as likely as those with higher
education to engage in all four poor behaviours in 2008, compared with only
three times as likely in 2003.
What does this mean to the older market.
Well, until somebody convinces me to the contrary I still think that wellness
type brands can write-off at least 25% of older consumers – maybe as many as
50% who cannot be bothered, don’t understand or who are too dim to appreciate why adopting a healthy diet and lifestyle is worthwhile. Once you understand
that you can make a start at segmenting your market. Dick Stroud
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