politricks and other distractions

Are You a Typical American?

Or are you hiding behind a disguise you're not even aware of?

I found these stats, from analysis of recent polling data by a Univ of Washington communications professor, enlightening. He was teaching a workshop on communicating for environmental groups and was tackling the topic of who our audience is. He asked the group to respond to the following questions:

• How many of us listen to NPR on a regular basis?
• How many of us buy coffee at coffee shops at least once a week?
• How many of us regularly shop at Wal-Mart?

Not surprisingly, every hand in the room went up for the first two questions. None for the last. It was a lesson in how much we differ from most of our fellow citizens. Their answers:

• NPR listeners: only 16% of the country
• Coffee shop customers: only 10%
• Regular Wal-Mart customers: 84%

More proof of how important it is to remember not everyone thinks like us or can immediately be assumed to share our priorities. And perhaps a reminder that lattes are not required to get through the day, as much as we may enjoy them.

posted by dcnative @ 10:19 AM