May-June

General

• More than one in four (26%) of Americans believe there is a spiritual energy in physical things (such as mountains, trees or crystals). Some 25% believe in astrology, 24% in reincarnation, 16% in the “evil eye” (that people can cast curses on others). One in three (29%) feel they have been in contact with someone who has died, and 18% claim they have seen a ghost.
• One-quarter of Americans with Internet-ready cell phones (25%) have never used their devices to go online. Some 17% use their phones to go online daily.
• Fewer than one-half of Americans (45%) trust the organic label on foods.
• Some 16% of Baby Boomer women have a Kindle or other e-reader. Of those who don’t have one, 67% would like to.
• Teens and young adults spend an average of $2,200 per year combined from their own and their parents’ money. The main purchases are cell phones $864; fashion $624; videogames $276; electronics $240; and movies $216.
• Two in ten American adults use Twitter, including 37% of 18-24 year olds; 25% of 25-29 year olds; 22% of 30-49 year olds; 9% of 50-64 year olds; and 4% of 65+ year olds.
• Nearly one-half of women (47%) say they wish they had more time to spend cooking meals. However, if they had more free time, 83% say would choose to spend it on other activities.
• Almost one-half of new car shoppers (48%) decide to purchase the same brand as their last vehicle.
• More than two-thirds of Americans (68.7%) had Internet access in 2009, up from 61.7% in 2007. This includes 63.5% who have broadband access, up from 50.8% in 2007.
• One-third of apartment dwellers (32%) have had a romantic relationship with a roommate or neighbor, and 40% say they would be open to the idea.
• Singles say that comedies make the best date movies (51%), as do romances (29%) and thrillers (13%).
• Parents would like to have more “family nights” with their children, but 21% report that their kids are not interested in doing these.
• Some 31% of women shop a particular store because it is the only retailer that carries the store brand they want to purchase.

Advertising

• Most Americans (84%) read consumer magazines. Some 72% read issues in print even when the same content is also available online. Fifty-four percent of readers say the magazines influence their recommendations of products to friends and family.
• Some 34% of consumers used a newspaper circular to help them shop during their last visit to a grocery store, while 26% used a circular from the store, and 11% asked a sales associate for help.
• Cell phone ownership in the U.S. continues to rise with 87% of adults (up from 78% in 2008), 72% of 12-17 year olds (up from 69%), and 21% of 6-11 year olds (up from 19%) now having their own devices.
• PBS is the most trusted network (40%) for news and public affairs information, compared to Fox News (29%) and CNN (27%).
• The average number of minutes a prepaid cell phone user spends talking on the phone each month is now at 667, up 147% since 2006.
• Most Americans (57%) go online when they want access to news immediately. More visit a news aggregator site such as Google News (31%) than visit newspaper websites (8%).
• The average cell phone owner sends 584 text messages per month, up from 281 in 2007.
• Most grocery shoppers tried a new product in the last 30 days. The most common reason was because they saw it on a shelf and decided to try it (39%); 31% had a coupon; 22% bought it based on a friend or family member’s recommendation; 8% tried it because they saw it advertised.

Healthcare

• According to the National Cattleman’s Beef Association, 50% of Americans choose beef when they are preparing a celebratory meal, compared to 18% who choose chicken, 17% pork and 15% fish.
• Some 46.0 million Americans smoked in 2008 (20.6% of the population), compared to 50.1 million in 1965 (42.4% of the population). The number of cigarettes they smoked was down to 13.3, compared to 18.3 in 1965.
• Four preventable risk factors for chronic diseases – obesity, elevated blood glucose, hypertension and smoking rates – reduce Americans’ life expectancy by about 4.9 years for men and 4.1 years for women.
• Some 66% of US adults are either overweight or obese, as are 15% of children, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Obesity is a major contributing factor to many chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
• Seventy-one percent of Americans say that society is less judgmental about cosmetic surgery than it was five years ago; 62% report that this makes them more comfortable about having surgery done.
• A majority of women with children (58%) say they are dissatisfied with their level of fitness. Some 27% feel unattractive, only 17% feel sexy.
• Most American adults believe that taking vitamins in combination with other healthy lifestyle choices can enhance their health, and 72% say vitamins can help them avoid health issues. Some 67% say that given the state of the economy, it is important for them to stay as healthy as possible in order to avoid healthcare expenditures.
• Some 82% of Americans have discussed food, nutrition and recipes on social networking sites.

Business to Business

• Out of the 53% of workers who have had a crush on a co-worker, only 36% had an office romance. Some 73% of workers say that a workplace romance jeopardizes one’s opportunities for advancement.
• Two-thirds of mobile phone owners say they are interested in having a navigation application on their device that provides directions for both driving and walking.
• According to the Kauffman Foundation, the top-performing 1% of companies in a year account for some 40% of new jobs. Within that category, fast-growing “gazelle” companies (3 to 5 years old) make up less than 1% of all businesses, yet account for approximately 10% of net new jobs per year.
• Some 31% of business owners say that cleanliness and appearance have a significant impact on customer impressions. However, 29% have reduced their workplace cleaning. Almost one-half (44%) experienced negative impacts such as customer and employee complaints, and longer cleaning time when using cheaper products.
• The majority of business owners say that finding the time to clean is the greatest barrier to keeping their workplaces clean (60%), compared to 14% who blame their messy staff.
• Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft Corporation and currently a social innovator, accumulated over 685,000 followers on Twitter between January and April of 2010.
• In the first quarter of 2009, 30% of business-to-business trade magazines closed.