Perhaps you will file this under things that only I find interesting, but this article details results from the Pew Research Center noting that 43% of people surveyed would rather live near McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) than Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX).

Interesting statistic. My guess is that the biggest reason the Golden Arches is more popular is that it offers far more food at a far cheaper price.

Officially, it's now two out of three regions.

Japan, the world's second largest economy, has officially fallen into a recession (pdf). Japan's gross domestic product contracted 0.4% in Q3 after declining 3.7% in Q2, the office said.

The contraction means that two of the world's three major economies, Japan and the Europe's euro zone, are now in recession. Last week, the 15-nation euro zone reported a 0.2% contraction for Q3 following a similar decline for Q2.

Economist David H. Wang told BloggingStocks Monday Japan has fared relatively well compared to the United States and Europe at the outset of the global financial crisis as Japan's banks have less exposure to toxic assets. However, that does not mean that Japan will not be affected by slowing U.S. demand for consumer goods, some of which are Japanese exports.

"Japan is now seeing the indirect effect of the financial crisis, an export sales slowdown," Wang said. "While the U.S. situation is serious, Japan's is not pretty either. Japan is more export-dependent than the U.S. and its aging population means domestic demand will remain weak. As a result, Japan's recession could be as long or longer than the U.S.'s recession."

Investors/readers have perhaps heard analysts and reviewers tossing around the word "demo," which is short for demographics.

Network television sitcom reviewers will often speak of "a show with great demos." In addition, analysts will sometimes refer to a company with a product launch "that fits the demographic profile."

Further, while the term demo can refer to any socio-economic or age category, a great deal of Wall Street's attention, as well as Madison Avenue's and Hollywood's, for that matter, is centered on one demographic segment: adults age 18-34.

Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) is breaking new ground in marketing for its kitchy Scion xB, the Frigidaire on wheels. To focus narrowly on their target market of male trendsetters 18-35, (and perhaps to protect the brand from boomers) they are ignoring television and newspaper in favor of online marketing. The new campaign will run on web sites favored by the young and affluent and its own site, want2bsquare.com, as well as in movie trailers and enthusiast magazines.

The company has done well to date with a design that seemed intentionally designed to offend the conventional aesthetic. However, according to J.D. Power, only 43% of purchasers fit their target demographic, while 15% are boomers. A similar but larger and more upscale product from Honda, the Element, has seen the same trend: only 28% of Element owners are 35 or under.

While Toyota should be happy with the sales figures to date, they seem concerned that they might lose control of the brand. Advertising can only go so far in protecting a brand such as this, cultivated to represent youth, adventure, and individuality. If enough boomers, who also still want to think of themselves as young, adventurous, and unique, are seen behind the wheel, public perception will overwhelm marketing. The Scion brand will come to represent blue-hairs, killing its appeal to younger drivers.

Thus, the company is pinched between corporate desire to maintain a youthful brand and the dealer's incentive to sell every car possible to whoever has the money. Can Toyota succeed in keeping boomers from finding about (and desiring) the xB? I doubt it very much.

I love labels. I especially love labels when they're devised by 'savvy' marketing analysts or pollsters. And the newest target for the corporate marketing dollar? 'Yoga Moms.'

I love this one particularly, not least because I'm totally a Yoga Mama (I prefer the "mama" moniker to "mom," as do most Yoga Mamas; you all may want to make a note of this). In fact, I registered the domain "spa mama.com" years ago and still receive email to some variant of "zen@" said dotcom. And yes, I do a lot of yoga. Yoga Mamas are said to be very particular about eating organic and feeding it to their kids; buying natural products; and we'll pay top dollar for it.

Whoa! Hold on. Maybe I'm not a Yoga Mama after all. Or maybe y'all have it wrong (still taking notes?) In fact, in my market analysis (done among my friends, many of whom I met at prenatal yoga, or at new mama knitting circles, or at the organic foods market, or as kindred spirits on some mama-centric web site), Yoga Mamas aren't willing to pay top dollar for anything organic or natural; in fact, our choices are much more shrewd than that.

My friends are, in fact, always talking about how they're on a budget, or they don't have money for this luxury or that luxury. Most of us don't spend much on our own clothes, for instance, and we're savvy resale shoppers -- often picking up expensive labels, to be sure, but for a fraction of the retail price. While we'll occasionally splurge on treats for ourselves (heck, someone's keeping those manicurists in business, and we love a good glass of Pinot Noir) we're also fanatic 'unit price' comparers and we won't go back to a place that doesn't fit in with a raft of values, from "respectful" to "green" to "treats its employees well." None of us shop at Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT). All of us shop at Trader Joe's.