1.5 Finding Key Points and Note-making
1 Finding key points
Possible titles include:
Marketing to the older generation
Selling to retired people
An ageing market
Key points:
(a) The generation born after World War II, sometimes called the baby-boomers, are now
reaching retirement age, and businesses are starting to realise that they are a wealthier
market than any previous retirement group.
(b) There are, however, certain difficulties in selling to this market. Some customers resent
being addressed as ‘old’ since they see themselves as more youthful, while there is a huge
variation in the profile of the baby-boomers.
2 Finding relevant points
Key points:
(1) The practice of imposing taxes on products which are thought to have a negative social
impact, such as alcohol, has been accepted for several hundred years...
(2) It has recently been suggested in the USA that so-called junk food should be taxed in
order to compensate for the social costs of the obesity it is believed to cause. This proposal
is based on the estimate of the medical costs of obesity, which is thought to be linked to
cancer, diabetes and heart disease.
(3) A study of the long-term effects of changes in food prices (Goldman, Lakdawalla and Zheng,
2009) argues that significant changes in consumption, and hence obesity levels, can be
achieved over the long-term.
(4) But the link between junk food and ill-health is not easily determined. A physically active
person could eat hamburgers daily and still keep slim.
(5) It has even been suggested that such a ‘fat tax’ might have the opposite effect and reduce
activity levels by forcing people to spend more time preparing food for themselves, instead
of buying it from fast-food outlets (Yaniv, Rosin and Tobol, 2009).
(6)... other studies on the effects of alcohol and tobacco taxes indicate that the heaviest
users of these products are the least influenced by price rises...
3 Practice A
Source: Rohan, J. (2010) Public Health Review8, p. 36
Taxing junk food
(1) Goods > social harm (e.g. alcohol) have been taxed since 18th C
(2) US proposal to tax junk food > reduce obesity > cut medical costs (diabetes, heart disease)