Chapter 8: Segmenting and Targeting Markets
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with product or service usage. In the past, however, even providing specific operating
instructions or instructions for use and clearly marking the product with warning labels has
not been enough to indemnify some companies in various lawsuits. Furthermore,
“unhealthy” can be a question of degree. For example, if someone eats at McDonald’s once
a month, it probably won’t detrimentally affect the person’s overall health. If, however,
someone eats there once a day, the person will probably experience obesity, hypertension,
and other health problems related to high consumption of fatty foods. To further
complicate matters, some people may consider some products healthy that others do not.
For example, most people consider meat a healthy source of complex proteins for brain and
muscle development; vegetarians disagree, finding meat to be an unhealthy source of fats
and fatty acids that are difficult for the body to digest.
In the area of marketing to adults, the question remains: Who should be responsible for
regulating the behavior—the person consuming the cigarettes or the fast food, or an
external body such as the government or industry trade association? As for the aggressive
marketing of unhealthy products to children, the practice could definitely be considered
irresponsible and unethical. (Consider having students discuss this issue in detail, and
make a list of pros and cons on the board as students raise various arguments.)
Video Assignment: Numi Organic Tea
1. Jen Mullin, the vice president of Marketing for Numi Organic Tea, describes their typical
customer as a female, college-educated tea lover, possibly an “eco-mom.” What type of
market segmentation has she used to identify this customer group?
a. Geographic segmentation
b. Demographic segmentation
c. Ethnic segmentation
d. Psychographic segmentation
2. Another way Numi Organic Tea identifies potential customers is through what they want
from the product; they are looking for organic, fair-trade, premium quality tea, according
to the video. What type of market segmentation is used to identify customers in this way?
a. Geographic segmentation
b. Demographic segmentation
c. Benefit segmentation
d. Usage-rate segmentation