Health-Conscious Consumers Put in the Work, but Don’t Shy Away From Play

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Drink a lot of water, get 10,000 steps a day, lift heavy weights, do pilates, stretch, practice meditation, run, eat a healthy, varied diet with plenty of protein and vegetables, take supplements (no, take different supplements), keep your stress low…the amount of healthy lifestyle recommendations you can see in a single day is overwhelming. There’s a cohort of individuals that attempts to keep up, at least most of the time: We’ll call them the health-conscious consumers. Using Morning Consult Audience, we defined health-conscious consumers as respondents who say that health is a primary factor in deciding what foods they eat and that they exercise or play sports at least once a week.

In a world where just about anything can fit under the umbrella of self-care, this group is a critical target for advertisers. Not only will health-focused messaging grab their attention, but they have more disposable income to experiment with devices, supplements and food products. And, they like to have fun. 

Health-conscious consumers support their habits with higher incomes

The demographic profile of health-conscious consumers reveals that they earn higher incomes than those who are not health conscious (meaning, they don’t agree that health is a primary factor when deciding what to eat and they don’t exercise or play sports often). This comes along with earning more advanced degrees.

Married couples and parents are also more likely to fit the profile, combatting the narrative that busy parents don’t have time to pursue their health and fitness goals. Having accountability from a partner and a desire to keep kids healthy contributes to this difference. The higher income threshold for the health-conscious group makes that time management and support more accessible. This group also trends slightly younger, and has higher representation among non-white people and men. 

Access to high paying jobs usually comes with corporate sponsored health insurance plans, which facilitate getting and staying healthy: the health-conscious consumer is more likely to say they have health insurance than those who are not health-conscious (+6 percentage points). 

The health-conscious consumer rates the status of their own health as better than others too. Of course, exercise and a healthy diet contributes to that outcome. But, those with health and mobility issues can find exercise prohibitive, and there are economic constraints around healthy eating. In short, it’s easier to stay healthy when you’re already prone to being healthy. 

A strong sense of self and community are important to health-conscious consumers 

Consumers who maintain a healthy diet and exercise routine have a distinctive mindset: they’re goal oriented and think about their future selves, not just in health but in all facets of life. More than two-thirds (70%) of this cohort said that they set a lot of goals in order to get ahead, versus just 30% of those who do not fit the health-conscious profile. 

This group is also more community oriented, with much higher response rates on questions about giving back to others, the environment and feeling connected to their community. At the same time, their sense of self worth is distinctive: they’re more content with their appearance (all those chicken broccoli rice meals do pay off), they pay more for quality and they’re in constant pursuit of a new challenge.

Despite appearances, this group doesn’t spend all their spare time meal prepping and hitting the gym. Health-conscious consumers spend more time than non health-conscious consumers playing games, streaming movies and tv shows, watching sports, going to concerts and traveling. Their desire to connect with their community and pursuit of novelty drive these leisure pursuits.   

Putting health first doesn’t mean there’s no room for indulgence 

Pursuing a healthier lifestyle doesn’t equate to deprivation: the health-conscious cohort is more likely than those who don’t share their goals to eat at restaurants, use meal delivery services and drink alcohol, both at home and when out and about. Cooking at home is also more popular among this group, which offers better control over ingredient choices and caloric intake.

Health-conscious consumers also show increased interest in low- and no-alcoholic beer, a growing trend in the beverage industry. This isn’t to say they consistently abstain from alcohol, but most who do take a break from drinking do so for health reasons. The increasing array of alternative beverages on the market aid those pursuing healthy lifestyles with alternative options while socializing or unwinding at home.

Health-conscious consumers have positive impressions of weight loss drugs

While stigma surrounding taking the “easy way out” of weight management via drugs like Ozempic is certainly prevalent, health-conscious consumers show stronger likelihood to consider purchasing the drug than consumers who do not fit the health-conscious profile. 

Ozempic is targeted for adults with type 2 diabetes, but the brand name has also become a catch-all for the class of GLP1 medications that aid users in weight loss, in addition to diet and exercise lifestyle modifications. Awareness of the drug is identical between the health-conscious and not health-conscious groups, but other brand metrics including purchasing consideration, favorability and buzz are all more positive among the health-conscious group.

The cost of weight loss drugs is prohibitive when not covered by insurance, and the wealthier health-conscious group has greater financial flexibility to cover those costs. Additional Morning Consult research has found that those most interested in using weight loss drugs are people who have heard a lot of buzz about the medications, high-earners and millennials. This profile shares substantial overlap with the demographics of health-conscious consumers. While a majority of this group has negative favorability of Ozempic, about one-third (34%) of them see the drug as favorable, and another tool in the healthy lifestyle toolkit. 

Morning Consult Intelligence customers can access the platform here. If you are interested in learning more about our audience profile data, reach out to your Morning Consult contact or email [email protected].