The 21st Century Customer: An Endlessly Moving Target

Wendy Gordon and Virginia Valentine

This article is based on an analysis by Taylor Nelson Sofres comparing sales and shares in 26 leading product categories between 1975 and 1999 (full report is published by WARC, 2001).

The 21st Century Consumer: an Endlessly Moving Target

Wendy GordonThe Forth Room and Virginia ValentineSemiotic Solutions

The theme of this article is that something is not right with the way expressions like 'the target consumer' or 'our customers' are used nowadays. We use these descriptions automatically without reference to the fact that the world has changed and meanings have altered. This is what is wrong: our view of the 21st century consumer is stuck in a 20th century model of thinking.

Neil Postman writes about how technology has entered our language and shaped our view of the...

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