Why Boomers Can’t Be Put in a Box
It has been staring marketers in the face for decades but it seems like the American marketing community is poised on the brink of an astounding discovery: the value of the post-war baby boom market!
Jerry Shereshewsky of AdAge writes – Boomers are a very diverse group, with a 20-year age span dividing the youngest from the oldest. A friend of mine, age 50, recently attended his college reunion, where he met fraternity brothers with 2-year-old children and 2-year-old grandchildren — and this from precisely the same age cohort.
Category: Baby Boomer Culture, Baby Boomers
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Interesting blog, Boomer Cafe. I thought Brokaw’s Boomer$ was an embarrassing failure for CNBC. By ignoring the growing consensus among actual experts that there were two distinct generations born in the post-WWII boom in births, the show was a mess of confusion and inaccuracy.
Most people born 1946-1964 (which the show defines as the Baby Boom Generation) who watched this show would not have related to it. This is because practically the whole show described those born in the first half of that period (the real Boomer Generation) while almost completely ignoring those born in the second half (Generation Jones). And far more babies were born during the GenJones years, which makes the fundamental idiocy of this show that much more pronounced.
The images of childhood presented were almost all those of the real Boomers: Coonskin hats, hula hoops, Howdy Doody, school bomb drills, ovaltine, etc., etc. Most Jonesers weren’t even born then. Where was the Brady Bunch and Partridge Family, Easy Bake Ovens and Beany Coptors, etc. etc. which Jonesers grew up with? The teen/young adult years presented were those of the real Boomers: Vietnam and anti-war protests, Woodstock and hippy counterculture. But Jonesers were just little kids then, not a part of any of that. Where were GenJones teen cultural touchstones like disco and heavy metal, Farah Fawcett and David Cassidy posters?
The show was filled with contradictions. It referred to Obama as a Boomer. But this was the same network that kept talking about the generational change at last year’s Inaugural. So the Boomers were passing the generational torch to the…Boomers?! The show repeatedly stated that the Boomers were the offspring of the Greatest (WWII) Generation. Does that mean the Silent Generation (between the WWII Gen and Boomers) didn’t have any children? In reality, most Jonesers were born to Silent Gen parents. This is one of many reasons why Jonesers are so different than Boomers, since experts emphzsize the big contrast between the Silent gen vs. the WWII Gen and parental influences are so crucial to the formation of generational personalities.
For our entire life cycle, we Jonesers have been mistakenly lumped in with the Boomers (and blamed for their excesses), while getting very few of the benefits. We are not Boomers. Every national poll on this question confirms that we don’t believe we are Boomers. Mountains of data confirm the clear differences in values, attitudes, etc. between Boomers and Jonesers. Most actual experts believe GenJones exists. Yet, CNBC ignores this and puts out this show using that old widely-discredited 1946-1964 Boomer definition.
Generations are a function of the common formative experiences of its members, not the fertility rates of its parents. There was a demographic baby boom 1946-1964, but the Boomer Generation was born around 1942-1953, while GenJones was born around 1954-1965. This is what actual experts say, as opposed to clueless media companies who don’t bother to research current expert opinion.
Thankfully, many in the media have paid attention to the experts, and GenJones has been getting lots of media attention. Many major mainstream media companies now use the term; in fact, the Associated Press’ annual Trend Report chose the Rise of Generation Jones as the #1 trend of 2009. We Jonesers need to help spread awareness about our long-lost generation to help avoid the imbecility of shows like Brokaw’s Boomer$.
Here are some of the good links about GenJones I found:
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20090127/column27_st.art.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ta_Du5K0jk
http://generationjones.com/2009latest.html
The above comment by TDF8674 (IF that is your real name, lol) is complete nonsense. There is no “growing consensus” of two distinct generations within the Boomers born 1946-1964. The so-called Generation Jones generation, those born “around 1954-1965″ appears to be completely fabricated by a few trailing edge Boomers who – at this stage of life – are apparently now trying to make themselves feel young by disassociating from older Boomers … but they are Boomers none-the-less … there is no Generation Jones.
I was born in that so-called Jones time period and have always considered myself a Boomer. My wife is in her 40s and thinks of herself as a Boomer. And, yes, President Obama is a Baby Boomer as well. To suddenly reclassify a huge segment of an entire generation seems a little nutty to me.
Referring to the Brokaw special on Boomers (which I rather enjoyed), this writer states, “Most people born 1946-1964 who watched this show would not have related to it.”
Huh? As a person born within the Jonser time period, I totally related to it. He/she goes on to say that the show’s childhood images of Howdy Doody, Ovaltine, and Hula Hoops were unrelatable as “Most Jonesers weren’t even born then.” Again … Huh? This writer is totally out to lunch. I played with a Hula Hoop (my kids even have Hula Hoops), I STILL drink Ovaltine, and Howdy Doody did not go off the air until 1960 … and remains as an icon that ALL of us relate to.
This writer is delusional … but if re-classifying him/herself as some sort of Jonser makes him/her feel somehow younger, then I say – in true Baby Boomer fashion – do whatever makes ya feel good!