VALS™ Lens Applying VALS™ to current events April 2015
In this issue:
In Food: The Iconic American Burger
Hamburgers—meat patties (usually beef) sandwiched between bread—constitute an iconic American meal. By 2014, 9 billion burgers had sold in the United States, according to research company NPD. Commercially sold burgers have been available for more than a century; Louis' Lunch (New Haven, Connecticut), still in operation, began offering burgers in 1900. The first burger chain—White Castle, which started in 1921 in Kansas—is also still in operation; White Castle was famous for tiny, 5-cent hamburgers that people knew as sliders (reportedly a great hangover cure). By mid-twentieth century, McDonald's (1948) had established the fast-food-burger industry; today, the fast-food giant's sales are slipping. Two days after McDonald's CEO stepped down (28 January 2015), Shake Shack—founded in 2012, merely blocks away from Louis' Lunch—went public, doubling its share value on the first day. In general, the industry's evolution is from cheap burgers to artisanal burgers with fresh (natural and organic) ingredients. Shake Shack is part of this new restaurant model: fast casual. Fast-casual restaurants have double the average per-check expenditure of a fast-food restaurant without the frills of a full-service restaurant. Fast-casual restaurants, in response to the growing consumer trend toward more healthful foods, may provide a boost to the restaurant industry's bottom line. Plenty of adults are still eating ground beef—no doubt, some portion in the form of burgers. Half of US adults have consumed fresh ground beef in the past 30 days: on average over 8 pounds a month. Makers eat almost 10 pounds, and Believers eat somewhat more than 9 pounds per month. Although Innovators eat the least amount of ground beef (less than 7 pounds) per month, they are among the most likely to be drawn to a burger for "foodies."
In On TV: SNL's 40-Year Anniversary
NBC's Saturday Night Live (SNL) celebrated its 40-year anniversary with a three-and-a-half-hour special on 16 February 2015. The program debuted in 1975, and no one expected it to last more than a year, because sometimes the comic sketches were funny, and sometimes they weren't. Viewers return each week so as not to miss a generation-defining sketch such as some from the Blues Brothers and Coneheads—both part of Boomers' DNA. For four decades, satirical, political, and politically incorrect humor has introduced comics such as original cast members John Belushi and Gilda Radner (both deceased), Jane Curtain, Chevy Chase, Will Ferrell, Dan Aykroyd, Steve Martin, Tina Fey, and Amy Pohler. SNL's brand of humor is still relevant. Why? Because segments of US adults appreciate—and always will appreciate—irreverence. Roughly 15 million adults view SNL each week; somewhat more than one-third are Millennials, and almost one-third are Baby Boomers, according to VALS™/GfK MRI spring 2014. Experiencers and Innovators are the most likely to watch. SNL has outsize cultural influence, thanks to socially connected Innovators and Experiencers who tell everyone they know about anything that appeals.
In Money: Cash-Advance Loans
Cash-advance—or payday—loans are a $46 billion US industry, according to the Associated Press on 1 February 2015. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is likely to provide full details of proposed rules to rein in payday lenders' tactics shortly. The rules "would mark the first time the agency has used the authority it was given under the 2010 Dodd-Frank law to regulate payday loans." Generally, payday loans are "$500 or less that carry charges from $15 to $30 per $100 borrowed." Rollover loans with interest-only payments often carry an "annual percentage rate of 300 percent or more." Consumers using a payday lender are not deadbeats, because their ability to repay loans is subject to some scrutiny. Of the roughly 3 million US adults who used a cash-advance company in the past 12 months, two in five are either Believers or Makers; Strivers and Survivors account for about one-quarter of users, according to the VALS™/GfK MRI spring 2014 study. In particular, the majority of Believers and Makers are honest and hardworking. All four groups were hard hit by the recession and have not recovered—the majority struggle to make ends meet. Because the VALS groups are not defined by income alone, it's important to note that of the upper-four resource groups (Innovators, Thinkers, Achievers, and Experiencers), almost one-third have used a cash-advance lender in the past 12 months.