Does segmenting lead to stereotyping>>>

After this week’s lecture I am left with one underlying question… how is audience segmentation different than stereotyping your target group?

During this week's lecture we took the VALS survey in class and as a result we were put into a classification by our answers and then this data is available to marketers so they can create marketing approaches that are attractive to groups of people based on their characteristics. I think the survey tells something about the person but I just don't feel it is specific enough to know what types of products a person will like based on if they are an achiever or not. I just don't know if I think the survey is telling enough. We also looked at the PRIZM market segmentation and this analyzed people living in the same neighborhoods and assumed that they tend to have similar lifestyles. This data is then used and individuals are grouped/segmented by Lifestyle traits, Consumer behavior, Media use, and Demographics. I actually found this to be a bit humorous. It basically said that everyone in a specific city or area within that city all drive BMW's and read Forbes (etc)... I'm pretty sure the researchers are missing a large percentage of the population when segmenting so broadly but I'm sure the data is useful to an extent. It just seems like stereotyping which can be rather offensive if done publicly.

Despite me comparing segmentation to just plain stereotyping I do think segmentation is incredibly useful. It appears to be very effective when a campaign has the resources available to create different ads for different groups within the target audience. A good example was the syphilis study and the penis campaign. By tailoring the campaign based on the demographics of each city the campaign appeared to be a hit. Another successful study that uses segmentation to tailor the ads based on the target group was the TAAG study. The girls were placed in groups and then the researchers tailored the ads to attract a specific group within the target audience. My only criticism would be that I would be surprised if some of the girls in the TAAG project weren’t offended when classified as ‘Nerdy’ or 'Outcast'. I would hope that as I begin to do research and use audience segmentation I will be sensitive as to the categories I place a person into. I would hate to offend a participant. However, with that being said, I absolutely see the benefits of audience segmentation.

And I thought this commercial was funny and directly related to audience segmentation and focus groups... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcj7QT0Abk8&feature=related