An unprecedented national survey of gay and lesbian consumers reveals interesting insight into how the community spends its money.
The 25,000-person survey done by Community Marketing, Inc. paints a portrait of the typical gay and lesbian consumer, and provides data and insight about a market that still hasn't been fully tapped into by advertisers. The 2007 Gay Consumer Index and the 2007 Lesbian Consumer Index is the most comprehensive collection of data on queer consumers yet. Windy City Times was among the gay papers with the top response rates.
The findings touch on everything from what kind of credit cards gays and lesbians use to how many have children under the age of 18. The study also provided data on areas such as median household incomes and types of housing.
The survey found that 85 percent of both gays and lesbians surveyed said that advertising in gay media influences their purchasing decisions. Also, 89 percent of gays and 92 percent of lesbians reported that the way a company treats its queer employees impacts their consumer decisions. Most gays and lesbians also reported that their purchasing decisions are also influenced by corporate sponsorship of community events and participation in gay and lesbian charities.
The Gay Consumer Index and Lesbian Consumer Index also provided interesting insight into gay and lesbian voting patterns, discovering that queers vote far above the U.S. average. In fact, 92 percent of gay men and 91 percent of lesbians said they voted in the 2004 presidential election. This is much higher than the estimated 64 percent of the general population.
The study was co-produced by Rivendell Media and sponsored by Absolut.
Those that conducted the study hope that the data will give corporate America the tools to understand the diversity of the gay and lesbian population. Amy Wooten