Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.trends From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: trends Wed, May 13 1992 Date: Wed, 13 May 92 05:40:09 EDT Message-ID: 05-13 0000 DECISIONLINE: Trends & Marketing USA TODAY Update May 13, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network MINIVAN MARKET MAY HAVE PEAKED: U.S. automakers are revving up the battle for minivan buyers amid debate that the lucrative market may have peaked. Minivan sales dropped 4% last year, the first annual decline since Chrysler's small vans were introduced in 1983. Chrysler blames the economy. But Toyota's George Borst doubts sales will average more than 1 million a year even after the industry recovers. `DRIVING A KID-HAULER': George Borst, vice president of Toyota, says the minivan market is largely limited to baby boomers with small children. Now the kids are growing up, and consumers are switching vehicles. Borst says customers are deserting minivans for midsize cars such as the Camry and sport-utility vehicles such as Ford's Explorer. "I don't feel like I'm driving a kid hauler," says an analyst. MORE DISABLED IN ADS: Amid the hundreds of so-called ordinary consumers depicted in ads are an increasing number of people with disabilities, just as there are amid consumers in real life. Xerox, Colgate, IBM and Citicorp all have shown actors with disabilities in ads. Even Budweiser, the most mainstream of advertisers, has featured a wheelchair athlete. (For more, see special Disabilities package below.) EAT FAST AND LIGHT: Fast-food chains have cleaned up their nutrition act in recent years, offering more grilled-chicken sandwiches, salads, light dressings, carrot sticks, fat-free muffins, frozen yogurt and lower-fat milk. Some recent reports indicate that sales of the healthy stuff may not be sizzling. But new foods continue. Burger King is working with Weight Watchers on a lighter menu. IMPORTS LOSE SHARE: Fewer imported cars are being sold these days. The Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association says about 10% of vehicles sold in the United States in the first quarter of 1992 were imported. That's down from more than 13% of cars sold during last year's first quarter. DRUGS LEAD TO E.R. VISITS: The number of emergency room visits brought on by drug abuse rose 4% from the second quarter to the third quarter of 1991, the National Institute on Drug Abuse said Tuesday. Heroin emergencies alone were up 10%; cocaine-related visits rose 13%. Health and Human Services Secretary Louis W. Sullivan authorized $19 million for expansion of treatment programs. STRIPES BRIGHTEN SUMMERWEAR: Wide, vertical stripes adorn summer clothes, says the June issue of Mademoiselle magazine, taking their cue from awnings and beach chairs. The pattern helps tone down bright, bold colors and works in jackets, skirts and dresses, paired with smooth white. MORE KIDS' RACKETS SOLD: The percentage of junior-size tennis rackets as a percentage of all rackets sold has increased, according to the American Tennis Industry Foundation. In 1991 they accounted for 24.5% of all rackets sold, an increase from 18.4% in 1990. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON DISABLED: CATALOGS USE THEM TOO: Advertisers increasingly are featuring people with disabilities among the consumers in their commercials. K mart's ads include two actors in wheelchairs. Catalogs are also using models with disabilities. Nordstrom, Kids R Us, Target and Little Tykes show models in wheelchairs, with leg braces or with Down syndrome. ADA OPENED EYES: The Americans with Disabilities Act, which took effect in January, opened the eyes of businesses to the persons-with-disabilities market. "When you're talking 43 million people (with disabilities), all of a sudden business saw how this would affect them," says Sandra Gordon of the National Easter Seals Society. "Disabled people work, and they're going to have paychecks." PORTRAYALS ARE MORE COMPLEX: As advertisers have begun to show more people with disabilities, portrayals have grown more complex. In 1987, a DuPont ad won the first Equality, Dignity, Independence award from the national Easter Seals Society. Focus: Vietnam veteran Bill Demby, who plays basketball on DuPont artificial legs. Last year, one winner was a K Mart ad showing a man in a wheelchair simply shopping for diapers. (End of package.) Trends & Marketing Editor: Beth Mann. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM