September 2nd, 2010
We were all vaguely aware that kids reach puberty earlier now than in the past. Research from Cincinnati’s Children’s Hospital puts shocking numbers to the trend.
In second grade (age 7) 23% of African American, 15% of Hispanic, and 10% of Anglo girls have started to develop. By third grade, almost half of African American girls and a third of Hispanic girls have entered puberty.
Why is this happening? It’s not crystal clear. However, experts point to two factors. First, more kids are heavy, and there seems to be a connection between being overweight and early sexual maturity.
Second, there are a number of common chemicals that mimic or interrupt human hormones. Some scientists speculate that low levels of exposure over time are upsetting hormonal balance and leading to early development.
What are the implications? Will parents recognize the issues with early sexual development and rally behind “right sizing” kids? Will this heat up the debate about how to control chemicals like BPA and phthalates? Should marketers rethink their target market and messages for products currently targeted at girls, teens, and young women? What do you think?
Tags: Brandology, Consumer Demographics, Marketing Consulting, Obesity, Phthalates, Trend Tracks
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August 25th, 2010
Kids 20 years from now may be asking that question if current trends continue.
According to Pew Research, the percentage of consumers who say a TV set is a necessity is in a dizzying dive. 64% of consumers said it was in 2006. This year, only 42% agree.
18 to 29 year olds have even more pronounced views. Only 29% say they couldn’t live without their TV, and a mere 11% say they must have cable. Those numbers contrast with 53% of the same group that says a computer is a necessity, and 33% who say high speed access is a must.
To understand just how unattached this age group is to the television, consider this. More 18-29 year olds (46%) view a landline phone as a necessity than a TV. That’s something, given how wedded this generation is to their cell phones.
Marketers are already moving away from TV advertising. These statistics make it clear just how fast that change should occur, especially for products targeting 19-29 year olds. What do you think? Will the TV set become a relic like the slide projector?
Tags: Brandology, Marketing Consulting, Media, Pew Research, trends, TV
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August 18th, 2010
Some experts are saying, “I told you so!” Others are saying, “Who cares?”
This week it was announced that roughly 86% of wild canola plants in North Dakota contain GMO attributes.
More surprising, some of these plants contain several GMO traits that are not available together in seeds. That means the GMO plants are breeding in the wild, producing new, unplanned combinations.
The existence of wild GMO plants raises a lot of interesting issues.
First, there’s concern that this is the first step in a process where we lose control of GMO. If GMO plants spread in the wild, how can we keep non-GMO plants segregated? What does that mean for the future of organic food and non-GMO claims?
Second, people worry wild GMO plants will spread into other crop fields where they will become weeds. However, because they have GMO traits, they will be resistant to herbicide. What can farmers do? Apply even more powerful herbicides? How does that impact food purity?
Third, there’s some chance that rogue breeding in the wild could produce “Frankenfood” GMO plants. Will consumers worry about that possibility?
Finally, US consumers are not all that engaged in the global GMO debate. Will this get them involved? Will they become more focused on eating organic? Will they demand new ways to ensure food safety? Or, will they decide that they might as well accept GMO because it is inevitable?
What do you think?
Tags: Brandology, Feral GMO, GMO, Health & Wellness, Marketing Consulting, Sustainability, trends
Posted in Health & Wellness, Sustainability | No Comments »
August 9th, 2010
Sounds may influence how foods taste. That’s the accidental finding from some recent research reported in the Journal of Neuroscience.
Using lab rats, (which are genetically much closer to humans than most of us would care to admit), researchers found that the part of the brain that responds to smells also responds to sounds. Because taste is so closely related to scent, that means that noise has an influence on taste.
Certain sounds appear to enhance smells. Others appear to mute them. In some instances, both the sound and the smell have to be present for the taste to register.
The researchers are quick to point out that these results are very preliminary. But, if further tests on humans show the same connection between sound and taste, it will have profound implications for food and restaurant product development.
How different would our eating habits be if lima beans accompanied by a great sound track tasted as good as chocolate?
Tags: Brandology, Health & Wellness, Marketing Consulting, Smell, Smound, Sound, Taste, trends
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August 4th, 2010
We hardly had time to breathe a sigh of relief that the oil well was capped before the next issue surfaced. Tiny droplets of oil combined with an oil dispersant chemical have been found in the food chain.
Here’s what happened. Over 2 million gallons of oil dispersant were used to dissipate surface oil slicks from Deepwater Horizon. Unfortunately, the dispersant didn’t magically make the oil disappear. Instead, it broke the oil into tiny droplets that remain suspended underwater. The size of the droplets, along with the chemical properties of the dispersant, may make the combination more toxic than oil alone. Scientists are concerned that the blend can more easily penetrate cell walls, skin, and membranes. Those fears are being fanned by the fact that most gulf coast crab larvae—which are a food source for other marine life—now test positive for oil dispersant. Click here to read more
Tags: Brandology, Deepwater Horizon, Food Safety, Marketing Consulting, Oil Dispersant, trends
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July 31st, 2010
Lack of exercise DOES NOT cause obesity. Despite everything we’ve heard, it’s exactly the reverse.
People, especially kids, gain weight first, and then they reduce their activity. In fact, a child’s percentage of body fat can be used to accurately predict how much they will exercise in the following three years. Kids’ current activity levels do not correlate with their future weight changes. An 11 year study of 202 kids reported in the Archives of Disease in Childhood revealed these surprising findings last month.
The research also uncovered that eating habits established prior to age five are the biggest factor in determining a person’s future weight trajectory. The weight of the kids’ parents, especially their same-gender parent, is also a factor.
These findings will undoubtedly cause a lot of heated discussion. Should our healthy eating initiatives be much more targeted to parents of babies and toddlers? Should we increase the focus on establishing correct eating patterns for pre-schoolers?
The implications for how society should approach the obesity epidemic are staggering. Do you think health professionals will listen? Will consumers?
Tags: Brandology, Exercise, Health & Wellness, Marketing Consulting, Obesity, trends
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July 26th, 2010
Trends start with teens. Trends end with teens. Fickle teens may now be signaling the future of Facebook.
Two recent reports from Roiworld and YPulse show that teens are losing interest in Facebook. Fast. As of last month, roughly 25% of young adults say they are using the network less or have stopped using it entirely. Over 60% of that drop occurred in the past six months.
Why? Interestingly, it is NOT because of the recent flaps about privacy. Instead, it’s driven by the most common teen complaint: it’s boooooring. (Insert your own teen’s voice here.)
- 45% of lapsed teens say they have just lost interest
- 21% say their friends don’t use it any more. This is a particularly common response from guys.
- 21% say they don’t like trying to keep up with all the updates. This is especially true for girls.
- 16% say they don’t like that their parents have friended them (Hi kids! It’s Mom….)
- 13% are worried about privacy
What does this mean for the future of Facebook? Will teens lead us to a new social media trend?
Tags: Brandology, Facebook Fatigue, Marketing Consulting, Social Media, Teens, trends
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July 22nd, 2010
We all knew it, right? Now there’s scientific evidence that proves it. Eating sugary food has positive effects on your body. It makes you feel less stressed and act less aggressively. Plus it improves your impulse control and helps you perform better under pressure.
Recently published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, the study that produced these findings is bound to raise some eyebrows. After all, villainize sugar is a growing trend. Plus “common wisdom” has always been that consuming sugar leads to a “sugar high” and poor behavior, especially among children.
Not so, say the researchers who performed this study in Australia. They say that eating sweets delivers glucose which enhances the executive functioning of your brain, making you think and act with more moderation.
I’m going to break out a box of chocolate as I watch this debate develop.
What do you think? Will consumers embrace this research? Will sugar lose its “baddie” reputation?
Tags: Brandology, Health & Wellness, Marketing Consulting, Nutrition, Sugar, trends
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July 21st, 2010
I got so many passionate replies after my post about male vegetarians that I decided to write about the other end of the spectrum, the increasingly popular Paleolithic Diet.
The basic premise of the diet is simple. We should eat only what our hunter gather ancestors ate, because over hundreds of thousands of years, the human body has evolved to perform best on that fuel. Followers of the paleo diet (as it is called by people far cooler than me) eat unprocessed meat, fish, eggs, non-starchy veggies, fruit, nuts, and seeds. They do not eat dairy products, grains of any type, beans, sweeteners, processed foods, or alcohol. Click here to read more
Tags: Health & Wellness, Paleo Diet, Paleolithic Diet
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