Cart Contents May Predict Who You Vote For
Unsure who you're voting for in a Democratic primary or in the upcoming U.S. presidential election in November? Your grocery shopping cart may give you some direction. In a practice called microtargeting, "the idea is that in the brand-driven United States, what we buy and how we spend our free time is a good predictor of our politics." Pollsters believe they can plumb the depths of your pantry and predict who you'd pull the lever for. The New York Times takes a look at the technique in its main story in the food section today and then comes up with a food profile for McCain, Clinton, and Obama supporters.
Do you fit neatly into one of the profiles? Or is microtargeting based on food prefs the equivalent of a shopping cart with a bum wheel?
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12 Comments:
There was an interesting article at the Economist some time back on "voting with your shopping trolley": http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8380592
(if you google it, you'll find the full text for free amongst the hits)
onedaylingers at 9:48AM on 04/16/08
Actually, it's more like the equivalent of a newspaper horoscope column. Anyone can find himself reflected in the predictions. According to the article, I favor one candidate based on my habits, when in fact, I voted for the other one in the primary election -- though I in some ways match that list, too. I think what you can predict about me from my shopping cart is that I will enjoy dinner very much.
juliec at 9:52AM on 04/16/08
I do not eat energy bars under any circumstances but am particularly interested in the Lara Bar/Luna Bar distinction here. I thought both were targeted at fancy women and am surprised that they are different enough to appear on different candidates' lists!
I also wonder if ultra-wealthy Republicans now feel some sort of license to eat stuffed crust pizza instead of their usual quenelles de brochet and champagne, or whatever ultra-wealthy Republicans eat.
I am a female Obama supporter, but these lists pegged me as a Clinton supporter. Is the Clinton cart somehow more "womanly"? (Elliptical trainer, hello.)
Robin Bellinger at 11:20AM on 04/16/08
Dear microtargeters,
If your candidate to spent less time peering into my shopping cart & trying to figure out how to lie to me to get my vote - and instead focused on solving the problems affecting this country...maybe your candidate could get my vote. Just a tip.
Thanks,
a voter who eats luna bars, drinks bourbon, and likes olive oil
bisbee at 1:05PM on 04/16/08
wow- sorry about my errors. my editor is on vacation.
bisbee at 1:12PM on 04/16/08
Hilarious. The only thing in the McCain list that I eat is sun chips, Otherwise I'm pretty evenly distributed between Clinton and Obama. I don't buy any of the processed and packaged snacks stuffs on any of those lists though, other than the Sun Chips.
simon at 1:56PM on 04/16/08
Another example of why our country is dying a slow, painful death.
sloppy at 2:37PM on 04/16/08
Thank God I don't fit into any of those categories. I hate being pigeonholed.
That said, I do think that what's in your shopping cart is a pretty good indicator of your overall lifestyle with regard to the health and wellness decisions you make for yourself, which in turn can somewhat identify your level of education, socioeconomic stratum and general background. Somewhat.
But those items and choices definitely do not translate well to political leanings, for goodness sake.
sheeats at 3:36PM on 04/16/08
This is a really good example of how the media (and press-hungry researchers!) can warp statistics. There's a really interesting (possible) story here about the intersection of lifestyle (and thus consumer choices) and politics, and how our lifestyle choices and socialization help shape our political choices, but it's ignored in favor of (as Juliac so aptly put it) the sociopolitical equivalent of a newspaper astrology column. Which came first: the lifestyle or the politics (the free-range chicken or the organic egg)? And perhaps more importantly, why isn't our national press exploring these questions in a more critical way?
impeh at 4:05PM on 04/16/08
how about forgetting what's in my shopping cart and telling us where they stand? Novel concept I know. Sorry I hate politics!
huney_bumper at 4:10PM on 04/16/08
yep... what sloppy said...
That said, there may be some truth here -- I'm a non-partisan moderate; accordingly, my cart contains items from all three lists, fairly evenly distributed. For the record, I never, ever support any candidate. Rather, I identify the one I find to be "scariest" and vote for any opponent who is most likely to keep said scary candidate out of office...
LoCo at 4:32PM on 04/16/08
I read this article and thought it was a sorry excuse for journalism. I also thought it was ridiculous and completely unscientific. Is this what all of the millions of dollars that these candidates are raising is going to? Sheesh.
Confabulation at 5:47PM on 04/16/08