Likely renewal of concern about terrorism for world’s consumers

By June 2006, only 14 percent of consumers cited a terrorist attack their major concern.  Even then, U.S. and U.K. exceeded world average: One-fifth cited terror

as major concern

11 August 2006
New York , NY , USA

Travelers around the world planning to travel between the US and UK were inconvenienced by unexpected flight delays and more stringent security measures after yesterday’s interception of the terrorist airline plot. Yet it's all worth it for the safety of the world’s consumers, who did not consider the threat of terrorism a major concern when surveyed just two months ago.

According to the latest ACNielsen Global Consumer Opinion Survey which polled over 22,780 consumers in 40 markets online in late May and early June, when asked about their major concerns in the next six months, only 14 percent cited a terrorist attack, and only six percent said terrorism was their biggest concern of all. This compares to 16 percent when the survey was conducted in November 2005 and 12 percent in June 2005.

Across all regions, North America had the most people concerned about terrorism, with 19 percent citing it as a concern, followed by Europe with 15 percent and Asia Pacific with eight percent (Table 1). Consumers in the United States and United Kingdom exceeded both regional and global averages, with 20 percent of Americans and 21 percent of Britons citing terrorism as a concern (Table 2).

In the U.S. and the U.K., consumer concern about terrorism had fallen from a high point in November 2004. While the percentage of U.S. consumers citing terrorism as their top concern fell from 18 percent in the November 2004 survey to a steady nine percent in subsequent surveys, U.K. consumers’ concern had a spike in November 2005 in the wake of the London transit bombings before again waning in the most recent survey (Table 3).

Out of the 40 markets surveyed, Denmark, Switzerland and Turkey had the most people citing terrorism as their major concern. One-fifth of the British and Americans also expressed similar concern and took the fourth and fifth positions on the top 10 list. These five countries also have also made up the top five with the most people ranking terrorism as their biggest concern of all (Table 2).

Unlike concerns for the economy, health and personal finance, terrorism has not been a constant concern for most consumers the world over. “As indicated in previous rounds of the ACNielsen Global Consumer Opinion Survey, consumers’ concern about terrorist attacks is more incident-driven and usually peaks in the immediate aftermath of an attack," said Deepak Varma, Senior Vice President, ACNielsen Customized Research, United States.

"The terrorist alert issued by the U.S. and British governments yesterday will go to the top of the mind for many consumers in markets where the concern about terrorism has been high and they will start to adjust their consumption habits fairly quickly. This is likely to have a short term impact on their travel purchasing and other related purchasing until they think the threat has dissipated," Varma added.

Table 1 : Concern About Terrorism by Region

Table 2: Top Five Markets for Concern about Terrorism

Table 3: Terrorism as Biggest Concern Over Time

Markets Covered:

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France,  Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Czech Republic, Hungary, Vietnam and the Baltics.

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About ACNielsen
ACNielsen, a VNU business, is the world's leading marketing information provider. Offering services in more than 100 countries, the unit provides measurement and analysis of marketplace dynamics and consumer attitudes and behavior. Clients rely on ACNielsen's market research, proprietary products, analytical tools and professional service to understand competitive performance, to uncover new opportunities and to raise the profitability of their marketing and sales campaigns.