Maccas or Hungry Jacks? Your answer could indicate your chances of divorce

Monday, 28 August, 2017

Maccas or Hungary Jacks?

Android or iPhone?

Coca Cola or Pepsi?

Trivial questions. Or, are they?

A new American study suggests couples who differ in the answers to these types of questions could be heading for divorce.

Researchers believe that consistent incompatibility in brand loyalty could turn into a serious problem for couples based on their power dynamic.

Danielle Brick is a Marketing Professor at the University of New Hampshire and lead researcher on the project.

Low brand compatibility, say the findings, may be a source of conflict within the relationship, and the authors propose this ongoing tension will eventually lead to reduced life satisfaction.

If one partner makes a majority of the decisions, the “low power partner” can find themselves stuck with brands they would not choose for themselves “over and over again”, explained Ms Brick.

This could potentially lead to “a death-by-a-thousand-cuts feeling”, she said.

Ms Brick admits that most couples “won’t break up over brand incompatibility” alone. There’s almost certainly a whole lot more going wrong with the relationship, but she suggests it could lead to “the low power partner becoming less and less happy” over time.

The US based research team used data from several experiments.

People think compatibility in relationships comes from having similar backgrounds, religion or education. But we find those things don’t explain how happy you are in life nearly as much as this notion of brand compatibility,” said Gavan Fitzsimons, a professor at Duke University in North Carolina and fellow researcher.

Perhaps we should be asking the big questions right up front and just write off anyone who doesn’t agree with our brand loyalty.

But hang on, we marry and have successful relationships with people from other faiths, countries, racial groups and political allegiances, so surely we can cut a Bing fan some slack if they are perfect in every other way.