Tastes of target groups vs. taste of social classes

Bourdieu’s concept of habitus was the central topic of our class in this week. An important term that he adresses in his concept are „social classes“ that are shaped by habitus and influence habitus in turn. When we interrelate Bourdieu’s understanding of „social classes“ to media it is clear that target groups in a way replace these fix social classes. Besides the Sinus-Milieus which are an important categorisation for target groups, the method of semiometry plays an important role in media strategies. This is a model that the market research institution „TNS Infratest“ developped in order to achieve the ideal brand positioning in media contexts.

http://www.tns-infratest.com/kernkompetenzen/brand-communication_Semiometrie.asp

Target groups are developped by analysing different orientations of values. So every target group is characterized by a certain value profile. If you have for example the profile of a TV show audience, media planners can place the right commercials in the breaks: The profile of the TV show has to correspond the profile of the advertising.