A new study from the Arizona State University W. P. Carey School of Business could change the way – and where – ads are placed.
Recent research shows that while many people stereotype political conservatives as stodgy and old fashioned, they actually have a more adventurous side which seeks out variety in products. Researchers say if a company wants to introduce a new product, it might decide to target politically conservative neighborhoods and outlets like Fox News and The Wall Street Journal.
The new research, found online through the Journal of Consumer Psychology, includes three experiments in which political conservatives prove they are more likely to choose a variety of consumer products than their liberal counterparts.
Mandel and her co-author Daniel Fernandes, Assistant Professor at the Catholic University of Portugal, conducted a series of experiments which found that political conservatives wanted more variety in their products than liberals.
In one experiment, the researchers used several established scales to question and determine the political leanings of 192 college undergraduates. They then told the students to imagine four consecutive weekly grocery shopping trips during which they could select from four brands of snack chips. Overwhelmingly, the politically conservative students chose more variety in their chips for the month than the more liberal students did.
In another experiment, 111 undergrads were polled for their political leanings. Then, they completed other tasks before ultimately being asked to select three candy bars from five options as a reward for participating. Again, the political conservatives exhibited much more variety in the candy bars chosen.
“Differences between liberals and conservatives are rooted in basic personality dispositions that reflect and reinforce differences in fundamental psychological needs and motives,” says Mandel. “We wanted to understand how and why a consumer’s political ideology could affect his or her consumption choices.”