Demographics for All Generations

We live in an instantaneous generation. We want our food fast, our information even faster, and we want it all—now. We are consumers and the instant messages which we receive are targeted directly to us as a result of our consuming habits. What we watch, listen to, where we go online, what and where we eat and what we do at work, school and play are seemingly recorded in a data base filled with demographics. It is interesting to note that many people in the media are appalled that the government may be monitoring the telephone calls of suspected terrorists. Maybe we should be more concerned that every American who buys anything is monitored by department stores, cell phone companies, and even pharmaceutical companies! Instead of picturing President George W. Bush with headphones on listening to your conversation with your college buddy about your golf game, I’m more concerned about blahblahblah.com listening in on the conversation to my sister on what I’ll buy my wife for our anniversary. Many people think that it is politics that divides us but I think it is more likely that demographics is the culprit. 

If you think that segregation was over sometime in the 1960’s think again. Somewhere in a California air-conditioned computer room, segregation is alive and well in the data-bases of consumer know how. In that file is our habitual DNA. Age, color, who we are married to are the starting points. Our children’s name and ages, our religion, income, and even what book we read last summer is separated into a grouping with others who are targeted by what we have bought and what we most likely will buy in the next ten years. In this act of the marketing spy group a confusing demographic arises, the confusion of want versus need.