Research Your Life

Usually, when I run across someone doing a market survey, I run the other way as quickly as I can. I am not the type of person to participate in a market research focus group. I hate marketing and advertising, and I hate being talked to by excessively friendly public-relations types. Nevertheless, I was down on my luck and decided that a few paid surveys couldn’t hurt. I volunteered for some market research focus groups. It was pretty entertaining. I don’t think I did them much good, but they gave me a couple hundred dollars for my time. I suppose it was worth it ? I didn’t have to do anything to earn the money.

Basically, with market research focus groups ? at least the one I went to ? they sit you down and show you a pilot for a TV show. Now TV show pilots are universally awful, but this one was worse than most. It was supposed to be profound, deep, and political. It was a TV show about a renegade band of scientists trying to save the world from the threat of global warming. The markets research focus group was specifically targeting people like me. I look like an environmentalist ? I wear sandals, earth toned shirts, and shorts. Market research focus groups are trained to select for people who seem to fit into their demographic. It is the way they do business.

Nonetheless,I thought the show was ridiculous. There was something so high-handed and patronizing about it. There was nothing controversy about the opinion that it was expressing ? the belief that the earth was in trouble. Nonetheless, it managed to be preachy and patronizing without offering any real solutions. I knew that far behind these market research focus groups, there was a production team that thought they were going to save the world by telling people what they already know. It really was disgusting to think about.

Market research focus groups have a few steps. First you watch whatever junk they’re showing you, then you have to take a survey, and finally discuss it with the group. The market research focus group discussion was mildly entertaining. Apparently, this is not the first of the market research focus groups to look at this pilot. They had already been through a few drafts of it, and no one liked it. I found that kind of gratifying. It made me feel better about wasting an afternoon looking at this nonsense.