Summer In BC Survey
General Summer Do's and Don'ts
Q1. Do you approve or disapprove of each of the following summer behaviours?
Comments: British Columbians have identified some no-no's for summer. If you want to avoid the scowls and mocking of your fellow citizens, it might be best to avoid sunglasses at night, smoking on patios, socks and sandals, and bringing your work to the cabin. In addition, men might want to put their shirt back on after leaving the beach area.
Two-thirds of British Columbians think it's okay for people to have conversations while wearing sunglasses, and a similar proportion give a thumbs-up to weddings on long-weekends and asking guests to bring their own meat to a barbeque. However, men are much less impressed by long-weekend weddings and being asked to bring their own meat to a barbeque.
Public Beach Do's and Don'ts
Q2. Do you approve or disapprove of each of the following behaviours at public beaches?
Comments: If you're a man wearing a Speedo at the beach, you might as well light-up, because you can't get much less popular. Most British Columbians disapprove of both men in Speedos and smoking at the beach.
Slim majorities say they approve of other beach behaviours, including allowing small children to run around naked, drinking alcohol, as well as topless sunbathing and thong bikinis for women.
There are huge gender splits on attitudes toward women sunbathing topless and wearing thong bikinis. Eight-in-ten men say they approve of both of these activities, while a majority of women say they disapprove.
Summer Office Wear Do's and Don'ts
Q3. People often dress more casually at the office during the summer. Do you approve or disapprove of each of the following clothing choices at the office during the summer months? [If you don't work in an office, think about the offices you may visit such as government offices or banks, etc.]
Comments: British Columbians are generally okay with relaxed office dress in the summer. There are some notable exceptions. Most British Columbians disapprove of midriff revealing shirts and a majority would prefer not to see sleeveless shirts on men or flip flops.
There are some differences between men and women in terms of what is acceptable summer office wear. While men generally approve of both mini skirts and spaghetti strap tank tops, women are about equally split between approval and disapproval. And men are more than twice as likely as women to approve of midriff revealing shirts.
Weather Questions
Q4. How would you rate the weather so far this summer?
Comments: Only about one-in-three British Columbians rate the weather as "excellent" or "good" so far this summer. It appears that people are looking for a few weeks of solid summer weather before they're willing to forget about the dismal winter and spring.
Q5. What is your ideal summer daytime temperature in Celsius? [What temperature would you choose, if you had to choose one temperature as the daytime high for every day this summer?]
Comments: If British Columbians had a magic thermostat for the outdoors, they'd set it at 25176C every day.
Q6. How hot is too hot? [At what temperature (in Celsius) does it become too hot for you to enjoy outdoor activities?]
Comments: Any day that reaches 30176C or hotter is becoming uncomfortable for most British Columbians.
Exotic Summer Behaviours
Q7. And finally, have you ever done any of the following summer activities?
Comments: A majority of British Columbians have gone skinny-dipping and had a summer time romance. Nearly four-in-ten have sunbathed in the nude, stolen from a neighbours garden and peed in a public/friends pool.
Maybe they haven't had enough time and opportunity yet, but younger British Columbians are trailing their elders when it comes to participating in activities like skinny-dipping, summer romances and sunbathing nude. In contrast, younger British Columbians are more likely to have stolen from a neighbours garden and peed in a public/friends pool.
Women are more likely than men to have sunbathed in the nude.
Methodology
These are the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of Global BC. The poll was fielded July 3-8, 2007 with a representative sample of 600 adult British Columbians. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 1774.0 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult population of BC been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual BC population according to 2001 Census data.
The polling was conducted using Ipsos Reid's "Voice of the West Interactive Forum" - an online panel of more than 1,400 British Columbians who have been randomly recruited to match the overall characteristics of the adult BC population.
To view the Gobal TV BC Summer Fun Poll news story click here
For more Information on this news release, please contact:
Kyle Braid
Vice President
Ipsos Reid
Public Affairs
(778) 373-5130
[email protected]
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