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Authors: Jūra Liaukonytė (Cornell), Anna Tuchman (Kellogg), Xinrong Zhu (Imperial)
The interactive visualization presents the following two metrics for the top 300 CPG brands in the U.S., using data from U.S. household shopping in 2019:
- X-axis: Brand’s Political Polarization Index measures the relationship between household shopping patterns across geographic regions in 2019 and the voting patterns of those regions in the 2020 Presidential election. A larger absolute value of the index (further from zero) indicates a more uneven distribution of the brand’s relative popularity across politically divergent regions. See below for details on the methodology.
- Y-axis: Brand’s Expenditure Share in 2019, shown on a logarithmic scale, with a higher position indicating greater national sales. See below for details on the methodology.
Disclaimer and Limitations: This index reflects the correlation between consumers’ shopping patterns across geographic regions and the political voting trends in those regions, not necessarily the political affiliations of the shoppers. Additionally, the index does not represent the political views of the brands themselves.
Acknowledgements: Data is from Numerator. The authors thank Tomas Keršulis for excellent research assistance in developing the interactive tool.
Methodology:
The Brand’s Political Polarization Index is reported in Liaukonyte, Tuchman and Zhu (2023) and is based on the methodology outlined in the accompanying research note, which also contains the list of the estimated indices for all 300 brands.
Relevant research:
- Liaukonytė, J., Tuchman, A. and Zhu, X., 2023. Frontiers: Spilling the Beans on Political Consumerism: Do Social Media Boycotts and Buycotts Translate to Real Sales Impact?. Marketing Science, 42(1), pp.11-25.
- Liaukonytė, J., Tuchman, A. and Zhu, X., 2024. Political Polarization Indices of the Top CPG Brands: Research Note. Available at SSRN 4766899.
- Liaukonytė, J., Tuchman, A. and Zhu, X., 2024. Lessons from the Bud Light Boycott, One Year Later. Harvard Business Review.