Instituto de Comunicación Social; Periodismo y Publicidad

Licenciaturas en Comunicación Periodística y en Comunicación Publicitaria e

Institucional
Inglés - Nivel 2

Nombre: ................................................................ Fecha: ................................

Shopping With Big Brother

The latest trend in market research is using surveillance devices such as
hidden microphones to spy on shoppers. Such tracking is legal.
By STEPHANIE SIMON
Times Staff Writer

MINNEAPOLIS -- As a savvy advertising executive, Tina Wilcox knows what sells. And she
has a hunch that $70 air freshener will not. But there's a manufacturer convinced that folks will
pay perfume prices for a decorative spritzer wrapped in fabric and filled with scents reminiscent
of fresh-baked cookies, or mossy summer-camp hikes, or grandma's floral soap. He wants
Wilcox to test his product in the market. So she opens up her laboratory: a retail store wired to
spy on shoppers.

The Once Famous boutique is invitingly eclectic, jammed with artsy accessories and upscale
home furnishings. But hidden amid the jumble, surveillance microphones and video cameras
record shoppers' every move. The boutique is an elaborate attempt to learn what all
manufacturers and retailers want to know: why shoppers buy what they buy and ultimately, how
they think. Which displays snag their attention? Where do they linger? What do they ignore?
How do they react to a bargain? What do they mutter to justify a splurge? The traditional way to
answer these questions has been simply to ask them. Many marketing experts, however, now
find such forums too contrived, and too easily manipulated: Participants tend to give the answer
they think the researcher wants, not their honest opinion. So the latest trend in the science of
psyching out the shopper is "observational research," otherwise known as "retail ethnography."

(taken from the Los Angeles Times, May 1, 2002)

1. Summarize the main idea of the text in 20-30 words.

2. Answer the following questions in your own words:
a) Why do market analysts monitor shoppers' moves with the aid of technological devices?
b) Which reactions do they expect to monitor?
c) How will manufacturers and retailers benefit from this new observational research?
3. Use the words in bold in sentences of your own.
4. In a brief paragraph (100 words approx.), express your opinion about this issue.