Do you want the cheese to be French or Danish?

People with low income, the elderly and women are patriotic in their choice of product

When a Dane has to buy milk, the choice is very simple, as it is only possible to buy Danish milk. But when you have to buy cheese, the situation is different. The selection is much larger, and as consumers we have to make a choice: Should the cheese be French or Danish?

At the end of the day, it depends on taste, but new research has proved that the western consumer's choice depends on another factor; patriotism.

Consider the national feeling in the marketing process

Assistant Professor Alexander Josiassen from CBS is one of the researchers behind this study, and he thinks that several companies could benefit from this knowledge in the marketing of their products.

He uses the Budweiser beer as an example of a product that is intentionally marketed on the basis of patriotism. - Budweiser is intentionally marketed on the basis of low income and the patriotic segments. So they are actually intentionally dissociating themselves from young flush consumers, but seen in light of our study, it seems like a sensible choice, says Alexander Josiassen.

The patriotic consumer is an older woman with a low income

The study shows that people with low income, elderly people and women in particular are being patriotic when they buy groceries. But if you are a young man with a high income, there is only a slight probability that you consider the origin of the product before it goes in the shopping basket.

Alexander Josiassen makes it clear that you are not necessarily a patriotic consumer, just because you buy Danish products. - The patriotic consumer has some emotional and moral criteria when he/she picks a product. As a Danish consumer, you want to protect the Danishness and Danish interests, which is why you buy goods produced in Denmark, explains Alexander Josiassen.

 - But you can still buy Danish goods without being particularly patriotic. If you as a consumer primarily look at the quality of the product and with that the country of origin, your criteria for buying the product are more rationally based. And that is not patriotism. For instance, some consumers prefer bacon produced in Denmark. Not for patriotic reasons, but because they know that Danish bacon is equal to quality.