EOC Week 9: The Dark Side of Market Reaserch

Conducting market research in order to figure out what the consumer wants is quite common place. Everyone thinks that "giving the people what they want" is usually a good thing. Well, it is. But there is a saying, and it goes "you CAN get too much of a good thing." Sometimes, when you get too much of what you "think" you want, your perception of things and the world around you can become warped.

For example, take porn. As we brought up in class, there is a mass flood of it that has been released upon the internet. Most people today have easy access to the internet via a laptop, tablet or cell phone. Do most parents let their children have cell phone? The answer is yes. Porn is developed by giving men what they want, a fantasy world where every girl is easy, sleazy, skinny, with perfect lady parts. At least, that is the most popular form of porn. When men see this, they think that this is how real women respond to sex, and that every woman should have a perfectly neat, trimmed, pink labia. Yes, it satisfies a desire for the masses, but it is very damaging to women as a whole.

Another example has to do with health. A 2007 article in the Harvard Business Review called “The Dark Side of Customer Analytics" talks about using market research to offer reduced rates on health insurance. Sounds wonderful, right? Well, a heath insurance company services a certain area. They enlist the local grocery store chain (Kroger, Albertsons LLC, etc.) in helping them to gather a decade's worth of consumer shopping habits. Did they choose the apple or the pound cake? The light salad dressing or the full fat? Based on this information, the insurance company finds a correlation between purchases of unhealthy foods and medical claims. In response, they develop an insurance plan called "SmartChoice," which is aimed at their customers who don't indulge.
So here you are, using your shopper's card at Smith's, getting all the great savings on that box of cookies on sale this week, and inadvertently restricting yourself from the benefits of low-cost insurance. All's fair in love and war, no?