Over the past few months the whole question of whether race is still required for target marketing and media planning was discussed widely by different SAARF stakeholders.
In the past the inclusion of race in AMPS was explained by saying that it is just another demographic and that people do not have to use it at all. It was argued that race is a fact of life in South Africa and that it is not SAARF's duty to censor information, and that AMPS reflects the South African society, and therefore race should be available just like any other demographic.
However, it has become clear that the mere fact that race is made available as a demographic in AMPS might lead to discriminatory practices in the utilization of AMPS data. As race is not essential for media planning or target marketing, its presence in AMPS is therefore not only unnecessary, but indeed harmful to AMPS and the industry it serves.
If race is used for segmentation purposes, the basis of the segmentation is inherently unsound as it accepts as its basic premise that all the people in a specific population group are similar and that they differ from those in other groups, which is patently untrue.
Following the Board decision, the main demographics that will be available in AMPS, RAMS and TAMS in future will be:
Age Group (16 - 24, 25 - 34, 35 - 49, 50+, and in most cases, the exact age)
Community size (Metropolitan areas, cities, large towns, small towns, large villages, small villages, towns/villages with populations of less than 500 and rural areas with dispersed populations)
Employment status (work full time / part time / not working)
Gender (m / f)
Home language (the 11 official languages plus "other")
Household Purchaser (wholly / partly / not)
Level of Education achieved (school standard and tertiary)
Life stages (9 stages)
Literacy (can read/understand)
Metropolitan Areas and sub-areas (Pretoria / Johannesburg / Cape Town /Johannesburg North / etc.)
Monthly household/personal Income
Occupation
Province
SAARF Universal Living Standards Measure (10 groups)
In addition, there are literally dozens of other variables available on AMPS that can be used for target marketing and media selection.
The primary aim of SAARF is "the provision of a common trading currency for the selection and buying of appropriate media space and time" and as such, the data provided by SAARF surveys such as AMPS, RAMS and TAMS should provide its users with the necessary information to do just that.
The ample list of demographics clearly illustrates that as far as the above remit is concerned, sufficient information is provided to profile the population to achieve target marketing and media selection.
It is clear that SAARF has reached a point in its history where we have to be bold and take the lead to move away from the practices of the past. It is unquestionably true that people have become so accustomed to think in terms of race that they will, wittingly or unwittingly, use population data in discriminatory ways even when this was never the intention.
The SAARF Board of Directors believes that the time has come for this bold step. SAARF trusts that the industry will take this opportunity to think anew about current practices used in target marketing and media selection. Stakeholders are invited, with the help of SAARF, to develop further innovative tools which can be used for these purposes.
