Personal Finance

Cheating drives brand choices

shopping

Studies suggest that brand choices can be used to predict someone’s propensity to cheat and that wealthy individuals are more likely to engage in unethical behaviour. PHOTO | FILE

Market Talk has previously talked about the Cheetah generation— the young African entrepreneurs who are breaking new grounds in placing Africa on the world map. This generation is inpatient and cannot wait for authorities to make Africa a better place.

Closely related is the cheaters’ generation. They are related because I watched in the Discovery Channel that apart from being the fastest, the cheetah is also one of the most promiscuous animals.

Apparently for the sake of increasing the offspring’s survival chance, a female cheetah can give birth to several cubs at a go, all sired by different fathers. The other similarity is that generation in reference is anti-establishment and therefore they have a tendency of breaking the rules to get what they want.

While cheating in exams is not a new phenomenon, research on the subject indicates that one would be more likely to cheat if they don’t believe in the fairness of the system or they don’t respect the teacher.

In sports, some of those who have been penalised for doping argue that you cannot win without drugs. Some argue that they did it for a good cause like Armstrong whose foundation Live Strong has greatly supported the cancer cause.

Many mobile and computer games have cheat books through which a frustrated player who cannot get to the next level in the game gets cheating tips. All these are based on the thinking that the end justifies the mean which solidifies the culture of cheating in the era of instant coffee, cash and gratification.

This means there is need for new thinking in making laws related to consumption of sin products.

Cheaters prefer high end brands

I came across a study indicating that BMW was the most popular car among cheaters. When I shared this information with another researcher when we were climbing Mt Kenya last year, he talked of a later study where BMW had been overtaken by Audi.

This is according to a survey by Illicit Encounters, a dating website based in the UK for married people who want to cheat—the membership is multi-country. They found that Audi is the most popular car among its over 800,000 members.

Twenty-two per cent said they drive an Audi, this was followed by BMW, Mercedez Benz, Volvo and then Volkswagen. The dating website is said to make over a million dollar a month.

Another past survey to uncover favourite brands among married cheaters by another dating site found that most of its female members prefer to shop at Banana Republic. All these suggest that brand choice can be used to predict someone’s propensity to cheat. Still, there are many people who prefer such brands who are not cheaters. The emerging trend is that cheating is expensive and hence they prefer premium brands, it is also a lifestyle.

The booming business of infidelity

One unconventional indicator of economic boom is divorce rate— with increasing incidence suggesting a booming economy. In a bad economy couples realise that it is cheaper to fall in love again than to divorce and that two are better than one.

Affluence leads to more choices in brands and experiences. Media coverage on cheating also glorifies the vice. Programmes such as Busted are quite popular. TV programme Cheaters advertising slogan “Life is short, have an affair” also explains why the business is booming.

Sources indicate that Nairobi hotels have quite some good demand for day rooms which has no confirmed relationship with the executives’ need for power naps. 

Infidelity trends indicate the expanding needs of cheaters may need to be addressed commercially, religiously, legally and socially. The intervention chosen would best be informed by the quote, “If you don’t like it, change it and if you cannot change it, change your attitude”. 

The writer is the Marketing Director of SBO Research.
E-mail: [email protected], Twitter @bngahu