The Gene Sell: Will DNA Become Marketers’ Next Research Tool?
America’s marketers love their databases: Give ‘em the right ZIP code or magazine subscription list and they’ll send out a forest’s worth of direct mail. The best ones can predict consumer response down to the decimal point.
But how radically will marketing and advertising be transformed when companies can tap into the biggest database of all--the human genome?
Every week, scientists participating in the federally funded Human Genome Initiative triumphantly announce the discovery of yet another genetic link to a deadly disease or a chronic ailment. Mapping the human genome promises a bonanza of biological insights for enhancing medical knowledge. But just as genetic cartography confirms the powerful relationships between our genomes and our physical attributes, researchers are finding there are strong genetic ties to personality attributes as well. Personality appears to be a product of heredity as well as upbringing and environment.
There are, of course, a swarm of ethical, legal and practical considerations arising from gene-based marketing. But if today’s marketers are prepared to spend billions on demographic and psychographic data to better sell their wares, should it come as any surprise that tomorrow’s marketers may try to use databases based on “genographics”--the gene sequences that help shape people’s personalities?
If it makes economic sense--and bitter controversy--for today’s insurers to want to know about gene markers for disease, there could be equally compelling economics for marketers to better grasp the genetic predispositions of their customers’ personalities.
“The numbers clearly indicate that the genes influence behavior,” says Oliver P. John, an associate professor in personality at UC Berkeley’s Institute of Personality and Social Research. “Genetic influence doesn’t mean that personalities are fixed or don’t change, but that learning more about genes will give us better insights into behavior.”
“Virtually every reliably measured personality trait in adults shows a significant genetic influence,” according to Thomas J. Bouchard Jr., who directs the University of Minnesota’s Center for Twin and Adoption Research.
To be sure, the David Ogilvy of DNA or the Bill Bernbach of behavioral genetics is a long way off. So is the concept of Procter & Gamble or Coca-Cola sponsoring a great hunt for “The Shopping Gene.” Mapping the new genetics of personality is at a stage today comparable to where gene mapping for physical diseases was perhaps a decade ago.
Researchers are still far from certain about the nature of genetic influence on personality. For example, is the tendency toward shyness genetically influenced? Or is it some critical component of shyness that the genes dictate? Can a single gene determine a personality trait? Or are personality traits shaped by complex “polygenic” sequences too difficult to interpret?
Researchers are struggling to define which aspects of personality, behavior and emotion can be meaningfully measured and defined in the context of the genome. Sociability? Aggressiveness? Fearfulness? Extroversion? Openness to new stimuli? Some researchers--such as Harvard’s Jerome Kagan--insist that finding the gene sequences that explain certain behaviors may be “several centuries away.”
On the other hand, observes University of Michigan psychologist Randy Larson, as the Human Genome Initiative progresses, “we’re going to stumble across all sorts of interesting things--not just physical traits but behavioral characteristics. . . . The applied implications are fascinating.”
And troubling. Speculatively speaking, the stronger the correlation between genetic influence and certain behaviors, the more effective and reliable a genome-based advertising or marketing campaign could become.
In many respects, knowing someone’s gene sequence is similar to knowing their ZIP code; statistically, some generalizations may become more plausible than others. Beverly Hills’ 90210, for example, is more likely to correlate to higher income and status than most other California ZIP codes. Don’t forget, however, that ZIP codes are also handy for redlining.
So, knowing that a gene sequence correlates with passivity or acquisitiveness becomes valuable information. But the real value of genographics doesn’t rest in the ability to predict the behavior of an individual. Rather, knowledge of the right gene sequences would enable the marketer to better predict the predisposition of a certain population, just as is the case with ZIP codes or magazine subscription lists. The genome becomes the newest lens through which marketers can analyze and test customer behavior.
For example, advertisers would love to know that preferences for certain colors are genetically linked to certain personality traits. To wit, suppose color preferences are genetically linked to personality; people who respond to the color red may be more predisposed to consider new stimuli, while people who respond to blue are more likely to be persuaded by intimidating messages. So replies to color-coded direct-mail campaigns would generate letters tailored to genetically based personality correlations.
Assuming that more and more genetically linked behavioral traits were discovered, advertisers and marketers could build genographic databases of their customers--just as they build demographic and psychographic databases today. As the cost of gene sequencing declines, it wouldn’t be surprising if some companies used focus groups of people with desired polygenic personality sequences to test new campaigns. Perhaps market research firms would even pay individuals to test for disease gene markers in exchange for the right to use their polygenic personality profile.
Researchers stress that heredity is not destiny when it comes to personality and behavior. And, of course, there are enormous concerns about the use of such data. But to the extent that certain behaviors and personality traits are strongly influenced by heredity, companies that compete have a strong incentive to learn more about the sequences that make their potential customers tick.
Michael Schrage is a writer, consultant and research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He writes this column independently for The Times. He can be reached by electronic mail at schrage@latimes.com on the Internet.
