Politics

Target's Falling Buzz Score

By Anne Landman

The Internet-based market research agency YouGov compiles a weekly report called the Brandweek BrandIndex, that measures "buzz," or consumer perceptions of the most talked-about brands. A big loser in the agency's September 3, 2010 report is Target, which drew fire after the retailer donated $150,000 to the Republican-leaning political action group, Minnesota Forward. After receiving the donation, MN Forward ran TV ads supporting Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, who openly opposes equal rights for gays and lesbians. News about Target's support of Emmer led to a movement to boycott Target. While Target's buzz score rallied modestly August 12-24, it dropped again after a rash of major newspaper op-eds, blog posts and publicity surrounding television ads promoting the boycott produced by MoveOn.org. YouGov interviews 5,000 people every weekday from a representative U.S. population sample, and respondents are drawn from an online panel of 1.5 million individuals.

Full post as published by PR Watch on September 07, 2010 (boomark / email).