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Gay and Lesbian Consumers More Likely to Follow Latest Styles and Trends


WEBWIRE

New online study also shows gay and lesbian adults are also more likely to upgrade to the latest model

Washington, DC – July 2008 – According to a new national survey conducted online by Harris Interactive®, nearly half (48%) of gay and lesbian adults report they like to keep up with the latest styles and trends, compared to only 38 percent of heterosexual adults. This also seems to accelerate behaviors tracked by a similar survey in January 2007 when 38 percent of gay and lesbian adults reported they like to keep up with the latest styles and trends (compared to 32% of heterosexual adults).

Taking a look only at gay men in the sample, more than half (53%) report they like to keep up with the latest styles and trends, compared to fewer than one-third (30%) of heterosexual men. In January 2007, when the same question was posed, 39 percent of gay men reported that they keep up with the latest styles and trends, compared to 32 percent of heterosexual males

The new nationwide survey of 2,637 U.S. adults, (ages 18 and over), of whom 343 self identified as gay or lesbian (which includes an oversample of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adults), was conducted online between June 9 and 16, 2008, by Harris Interactive, a global market research and consulting firm, in conjunction with Witeck-Combs Communications, Inc., a strategic public relations and marketing communications firm with special expertise in the GLBT market.

Gay and lesbian adults are also more likely to upgrade to the latest model compared to their heterosexual counterparts. The latest survey shows 45 percent of gay and lesbian adults say they tend to upgrade to the latest model or version of a product, compared to one-third (33%) of heterosexual adults. Just looking at gay men, nearly half (49%) report they tend to upgrade to the latest model or version of a product, compared to 35 percent of heterosexual men.

This latest survey continues to confirm a key demographic distinction between gay/lesbian consumers and their heterosexual counterparts. “The LGBT community has long been known not just for trend spotting but also trend setting,” said Wes Combs, President of Witeck-Combs Communications. “They are very savvy consumers and often motivated to spend a little extra on new products and upgrades.”

Methodology

Harris Interactive conducted the study online within the United States between June 9 and 16, 2008, among 2,637 adults (ages 18 and over), of whom 2,220 indicated they are heterosexual and 343 self-identified as gay or lesbian (this includes an over-sample of GLBT adults). Figures for age, sex, race, education, region and income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. In addition, the results for the gay and lesbian sample were weighted separately based on profiles of the gay and lesbian population that Harris Interactive has compiled through many different online surveys. Propensity score weighting also was used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words “margin of error” as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.



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