Are Boomers really re-defining anything? Or, as marketers, are we just telling them what they want to hear in order to sell them something?
I am of the opinion that it’s a little of both.
A Boomer friend of mine jokes – “Didn’t you know that Boomer women are the first to ever go through Menopause?” And she’s right. It seems like Boomers are always claiming to redefine each life stage as if until they reached 30-40-50-60, everyone had lived a cookie-cutter existence.
Are Baby boomers really the only retires to travel? Is there really that much of a difference between a bus tour that plays music from the 1940s while you travel through wine country and a tour bus that plays music from the 1960s?
I’ve noticed that a lot of Gen Xers like myself sit back and listen to the Boomer mantra of redefinition without disagreeing. But I don’t think we’re buying it. We are, however, selling it. At least us marketing Gen Xers.
In some ways, it’s almost as if the Boomers are reaching that stage where the patronizing begins. Kind of like when a young guy flirts with his girlfriend’s grandma to get on her good side. I believe it’s true that life after age 50 is changing – but that’s probably more due to modern medicine than some sort of super culture created by the Boomers.
3 comments:
It's not just the boomers, have you read this?
http://www.employeeevolution.com/archives/2007/12/10/the-millennial-mindset-products-of-our-environment/
It seems the generations all around us are thinking that they are changing the world when in reality, it has always just simple kept evolving. I'll bet if we tried we could dig up articles written around the industrial revolution where the incoming young people said nearly the exact same things. That might make a good book! :) Count me in!
Oh man, Scott, I am on employeeevolution.com all the time! I think the Ryans are doing a good job, but they are in their 20s. I think they will cringe at the posts 10 years from now.
I have a book to recommend to you: The Nineshift (see nineshift.com to read the first chapter). This is exactly the same thing that happened a hundred years ago. That's what the book talks about.
I agree with you, thanks for the help in this question. As always all ingenious is simple.
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