Abstract
Purpose: The Research Question examined in this paper is why people consume gutkha? Is there any specific perceived benefit from consumption? If yes, could this help identify various segments of gutkha consumers for evolving some more focused social marketing strategy to wean people away from gutkha addiction.
Design, Methodology and Approach: As gutkha addiction is a social problem severely affecting the health and well-being of the society, a comprehensive study, involving 1400 respondents was conducted in the state of Gujarat. A two stage cluster sampling procedure was adopted for data collection.
Findings: The cluster analysis procedure using SPSS package helped identifying three distinct segments of gutkha consumers. The first cluster comprising about 43 percent respondent was named as ‘Compulsives’ because they were found to be strong addicts, unable to live without gutkha. The second segment comprising about 30 percent respondents included mostly young greenhorn ‘Imitators’ chewing gutkha for fun, excitement or just for time pass. The third group was labeled as ‘Socialisers’ because they considered gutkha consumption as status symbol and a means of socialisation. As consumption motives are different, it was concluded that different de-marketing strategies are needed for the three aforesaid segments.
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