Final answer:
The marketer is using family life cycle segmentation to target customers, which is based on the recognition of specific needs and behaviors at different stages of a person's family life. This method helps tailor marketing strategies to the transitional needs of families and reflects modern, fluid societal views on family structures.
Step-by-step explanation:
A marketer that targets customers based on marital status and the presence and age of children is using family life cycle segmentation. This approach recognizes the distinct purchasing behaviors and needs that emerge as individuals pass through different stages of family life, such as being single, married without children, married with young children, and so forth. Consumer and marketing researchers utilize this segmentation to tailor their products and services to the needs of families as they transition through these stages.
While sociologists apply the family life cycle to understand and predict changes in family structures over time, marketers use this concept to anticipate and meet the changing needs of consumers. Changes in family development, such as childbearing without marriage, reflect broader shifts in society's understanding of family life. Nowadays, the concept of the family life cycle in marketing takes into account more fluid and less rigid models to reflect a modern societal view that is less about consecutive stages and more about a continuous flow that can change based on a variety of factors, including cultural and lifestyle differences.