PR survey casts a furry light on an urban myth
According to the latest 'scientific' study, cat owners are brainier than their canine equivalents. Is this just dubious PR at work, wonders Dougal Paver.
Our industry is second only to government for its use of surveys. Such is the value of survey findings that PR Week recently ran a whole feature on how to maximise their use and impact. 76.2% of readers said they thought it was a good thing.
Britain, it seems, is in love with the telling statistic.
Tapping in to academia to add credibility to whatever 'weight' you may ascribe to your findings is another cunning trick and this week's prize go to the Cats Protection Lecturer in Feline Epidemiology at Bristol University whose survey of 2,980 grabbed this morning's headlines.
As a feline friend of long-standing the results of their survey interested me. In short, if you own a cat you're likely to be brainier, on the basis that high achieving people choose pets that suit their lifestyles. Brainy people commute longer and work longer hours and the low-maintenance nature of cats makes them the ideal pet. Follows, doesn't it?
Among the various nuggets unearthed was this finding: cat owners are more likely to be older, female and degree holders - a phenomenon known as 'scary cat woman' by some in our office with a morbid fear of ending up with nowt but cats for company.
And there was me thinking it was an urban myth. PR surveys, eh?
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