The other day I was driving around doing errands, pondering what to write for this blog and I started thinking about how someone might 'segment' me based solely on external characteristics, at that moment. Obviously this wouldn't be a complete picture of me as a person and involves stereotyping but let's see what happens...
So I'm wearing a sweatshirt from a recent concert I attended...Garth Brooks who is one of the biggest country artists ever, for those who don't know. Based on the fact that I was at a Garth concert and he typically attracts a pretty conservative crowd I might be segmented into a politically conservative group.
But now that completely contradicts the Obama '08 bumper sticker on my car -- he's not quite a conservative candidate.
And what am I listening to on the radio? hmmm...a radio station in Spanish. What group does that put me in?...Do I get classified as Hispanic/Latina? And isn't Hillary supposed to be attracting the Latino vote? But wait - I'm not Hispanic or Latina.
So then I head home to my residence in zip code 92037 aka 'La Jolla' (read with slightly snobby attitude). Adhering to the stereotypes of La Jolla residents, I should be in the 'affluent' group. Unfortunately for me this mountain of student loans that I have reminds me that I am living in quite the opposite condition.
So are any of these 'segments' I fall into correct? Am I just a walking contradiction? I'd like to think that no...I'm just me and sometimes such segmentation is not all encompassing. Many people must also contradict the groups that that are put into. This makes the moral of the story: segmentation is complex, just like other elements of health communication. And we as health communicators sure do have our work cut out for us!
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