A Millennial’s Take on Generational Shaming

Labels, boxes & categories in the name of Marketing

In the marketing industry, STP ( segmentation, marketing, and positioning) is a research and analysis method invented to better structure marketing plans around a given demographic group. It has many times proved very useful, when looked at singularly and applied independently. The term ‘millennials’ was ‘coined’ by two guys called William Strauss and Neil Howe. Ever since, a wide array of people, (outside tactical marketing teams) have appropriated the word and adapted for their own convenience. The word ‘millennial’, like ‘Gen Z’ etc, has been distorted and sensationalized by the mass media for ends, other, than segmentation analysis. That very distortion has led to a somewhat ‘acceptable’ generational shaming – and I’m not down with it.

“Generational thinking is not only seductive but it also reaffirms preconceived prejudices”.

Traditional marketers have constructed targeted labeling for the purpose of better identifying a certain ‘strata’ of people. There are many demographic categories – amongst the most popularized ones are Baby Boomers (1946 – 1964), Generation X (1965 – 1976), Generation Y + Millennials (1977 – 1994) and Generation Z (1995 – 2018). As touched on above, this type of categorizing may have a relatively useful commercial purpose (for those who understand its limitations). However, I have a fundamental issue with the labels and comparisons made in this article: “How Millenials and Gen Z are Different” and I’ll share why:

Well basically, it’s madness to reduce an entire generation to “millennials”- and over and above that, associate the word to a myriad of negative adjectives- like ‘lazy’, ‘entitled’ and (the best one) ‘instant gratification’.Why? Because through the lens of an older cynic, these adjectives, could vaguely describe the wide majority of young people. I am pretty sure that young adults in the 60’s were described very similarly when they were in their 20’s and early 30’s.

Mostly, these terms don’t reflect the reality of the situation and don’t take into consideration crucial external influences, with the exception of the year one was born in.

Millennials, we are not alone: welcome Gen Z!

Whether it comes from a good or a bad place, the human need to externalize, categorize and criticize is instinctual. We have been doing it since the beginning of time. Perhaps that is why these sensationalistic marketing terms have gained so much popularity. And yet, just when we thought that Millennials were going to learn from the mistakes of the past and break the cycle of generational targeting – a new term has emerged from the web’s ashes to describe the next bunch of people – Gen Z.

For this article, I will primarily focus on contesting the five points made in the aforementioned piece called “How Millenials and Gen Z are Different”. By the end of it, you’ll see why “How Millennials and Gen Z are similar”, instead of different.

1) “Gen Z is pragmatic. Millennials are idealistic”.

Firstly, just to be clear, GEN Z is a term that cannot universally apply to people of different income brackets, or geographical locations. However, for the sake of this argument, let’s assume that we are talking about a demographic comprised of middle to upper-class teenagers and young adults, born and raised within a Western context.

Most people who are part of Gen Z, are either still in school, would have just finished high school, or are completing their tertiary education. A few may have just entered the workforce. The point of pragmatism flips to a point of ‘lack of conceptual freedom’ when keeping in mind that in many educative infrastructures ‘alternative’, or idealistic thoughts, are very seldom encouraged, or rewarded. Therefore they are seldom reported and let alone voiced.

On top of it all, competition and social pressures, pumped by social media and technology, lead younger people to be more careful of what they say or don’t say, for the fear of negative, often viral, social repercussions. The right question to ask is: “Are young people/ students pragmatic by nature, or forced to do so, to succeed in their environment?”

Did the researchers, who compiled these statistics, ever stop to ask the interviewed Gen Z  about their dreams, in relation to their financial status, cultural and psychological state? What they study, or want to study? I don’t think so – if they did they would see that there has been a surge of interest (by young people, both of Gen Y and Gen Z) in artistic and conceptual subjects – such as philosophy, poetry, theatre, and the arts. Subjects that inherently value idealism above pragmatism.

Secondly, it is also particularly easy to be perceived as ‘pragmatic’ when still living at home and being told what to do – or even worse, not being blamed for the protraction of a financial depression. And after all, how could you blame someone, who is an average of 9 years old, for the state of the world?

When accusing Gen Y of being idealistic (with all the negative associations of the word), let’s look at the facts. Millennials are currently the main driving force behind technological growth, aimed at offering ‘idealistic’ solutions to resolve present and predicted (social and environmental challenges) as pragmatically as necessary. It is their ‘idealistic mindset’ that is sustaining what remains of our planet. So that’s that for ‘ idealism’- as if it is a bad thing.

To categorize two hugely interlinked generations in two opposing categories is just crazy. Young people thrive on innovation. Innovation and idealism go hand in hand and always have – no matter what the century. The necessity for change, the energy to do so and the dream to make the world a better place is something all young people share, in different ways, based on their environments.

Thirdly, depending on the level of investment, long-term value is something everyone wants.  That’s because at a psychological level it feeds and reassures two very basic needs – security and temporary stability. Regardless of the time period one is born in, long-term value is an attractive quality.

Fourthly, let’s not be fatalistic about everything –pragmatism and idealism can be coexisting qualities, or skills rather – as they are both important in different ways. One can be both pragmatic and idealistic, or just pragmatic or just idealistic – it’s fine either way. We are all made original.

2) “Millennials liked authenticity, but Gen Z takes it to a new level.”

Let’s look at it this way: authenticity has its very basis in idealistic standards. If Gen Z takes ‘authenticity to a whole new level’, it’s because the generation before it set certain standards associated with their interpretation of the word. These standards depart from the commercial associations and instead align with the personal and emotional experience of the user.
For example, Gen X based their expectations on cultural events and trends, such as pop-art, Dadaism, punk rock, hip-hop, the Cold War, the post-war Anarchist movement, post-Apartheid politics, hippies, feminism, global warming, globalization (etc) – and all the cultural and ethnic dynamics that have emerged from them. We (millennials) deal with our parents, and ourselves, trying to cope with all of that and in turn (as the wheels keep spinning) Gen Z are trying to deal with Millennials, dealing with what they were given to work with. Undeniably, the means and skills, used by both Gen Z and Millennials to tackle current issues are still largely interchangeable. Things including gadgets and apps, for networking, design, banking, gaming and everything else. Most intrinsically, the lens through which we perceive value and authenticity, given a set of information, is very similar.

 

 

3) “Gen Z focuses on saving money. Millennials are more focused on the experience.”

What is more authentic- money or experiences?

GEN Z is a generation, as the article suggests, that is social media-friendly, like no other generation before it. True. However, you only have to scroll through Instagram for two minutes to realize that this point is a fallacy. Yes, GEN Z, like many other generations, may know how to save money, but just like Millennials, if not more, their social survival is largely based on saving money in order to create/be part of experiences – preferably ones easy to record/capture, download, and upload. To be considered authentic in a world of copycats is a challenge many have struggled, struggle, and will continue to struggle with.

4) “Gen Z prefers in-store shopping. Millennials shop online.”

Millennials like online shopping and so do older people who know how to do it and who can. In recent years, according to PayPal’s latest report, there has been a growth in online purchasing customers. The report shows that in South Africa alone, online users increased by 19% between 2017 and 2018. However, to say that Gen-Z’s like to buy stuff in store more than online, is probably attributed to the fact that most of them are not of legal age to possess a credit card. Or that perhaps still have time to go to the shops.

Many millennials, who are now in their mid-twenties/mid-thirties, probably don’t have the same type of time/liberty – they likely are busy trying to build a career, a family or both – which leaves them (us) with less time on our hands than people who are younger, more wild and more free. Over and above that, it is fair to assume that many millennials, including myself, who never grew up with the option of shopping for things online, would prefer to see and test the acquisition, first hand, before buying. As I am sure anyone would be given the opportunity.

5) “Millennials cozy up to brands. Gen Z wants to be independently themselves.”

Millennials can cozy up to brands because we have experienced an economic boom. In the same breath, we can also reject brands because we have experienced a recession.

That said, let’s be honest – everyone cozies up to brands. Whether the brand is ‘ I do what I want’ ( whether you’re a punk/hippy or straight up gangster) or whether the brand is a certain music genre, a political or a cultural demographic.

Let’s take the designer brand ‘Vans’ for example: when you wear Vans, you are not only cozying up to the design- but also to what it represents. Vans biggest reps are, broadly speaking, creatives and skaters. Whilst not being necessarily true, creatives and skaters are perceived to be (tendentially) politically liberal, of a certain social class, and ‘individualistic’ people that ‘prioritize comfort’, or individualism, over their looks. Ironically, Vans biggest selling point, like Superga, is that their shoes are popularly perceived and accepted as casual wear. So to wear Vans is to be comfortable – comfortable with your ‘authentic’ self. In order to create that illusion and appeal to a young market, Vans manipulated the visual and cultural concepts around politically influenced, anti-conformist movements/music genres – such as punk rock and roll, conscious rap and certain strains of electro. Music not only ever dies, but just like fashion, it recycle- and can always be re-invented as ‘authentic’.

The same applies to every brand out there – in order for a brand to work it has to fit well, or rather reflect, within a given social and cultural dynamic.

Our need for belonging always trumps our need for ‘ independence’, at least, as it is prescribed in the article.

“Millennials are more self-centered”

(?‍♀️?‍♂️?‍♂️?‍♂️?‍♀️?‍♂️)

Lastly, perhaps the biggest generalizations are that “GEN Z is more self-aware’, whereas ‘Millennials are more self-centered’ and that there will be more GEN Z than GEN Y. To the second statement I can’t really say much – of course, there will be slightly more Gen Z than Gen Y’s –  the population of the Earth has doubled since the 70’s, and it doesn’t seem to be relenting.

On the other hand, I call ‘BS’ to the point of awareness versus self-centeredness:

Millennials are known for being idealistic, right? Not like other young people, who are satisfied with the system and are okay with not being able to pay their student loans, Millennials are in a category all on their own. Like other ‘crazy folks’, we want to ‘imagine all the people living life in peace’. We are the generation that values diversity and entrepreneurship. Thanks to millennials there has been a huge growth in small businesses and high profit yielding long-term goals. Pro-environmental and pro-equality tech/propaganda has tripled since the late 90’s – and whilst having a desire to increase a country’s cash flow may be bad, what is so self-centered about creating a way that reduces contamination and media trends that disapprove of hateful behaviour and speech? So far, the typical ‘millennial’ contributes to the making of the most peaceful generation yet.

Basically, we are seen as self-centered, because we want the world to be a better place ’cause we like nice things.

(Have you heard about the 24-year-old who invented the World’s first ocean plastic-cleaning machine set to tackle the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? Or other millennial inventions that are changing the course of history?)

GEN Z isn’t any less self-centered and it is also aware (and hopefully as the human species develops) will become more and more aware. However (once again) to say that one generation is ‘self-centred’ and another ‘self-aware’ is a vague contrast, as well as a provocation.

Surely if there were such a gap in thinking in between Millennials and GEN Z, we wouldn’t buy so many of the same products, let alone, watch the same shows or listen to the same music. And the truth of the matter is that we share so many similarities with our younger siblings, it’s scary. We even share similarities with some Baby Boomers. You know why? Because they raised us -and Netflix’s vice-president of product innovation, Todd Yellin, agrees. He described traditional demographics as “almost useless” at last year’s SXSW festival. His reasoning?

“Here’s a shocker for you, there are 19-year-old guys who watch Dance Moms, and 73-year-old women who are watching Breaking Bad and Avengers.”

Overall, sure, there are certain social and cultural factors that shape and influence different generations differently – as there are also many aspects that the media, or marketers, cannot control or box. It is imperative to understand that these demographic targeting words are used only to identify a certain period in a person’s lifetime to track very specific outcomes. Millennials, Gen X, Gen Y, Baby Boomers etc., are just marketing terms. They are terms used to better study a group of people and ideally learn how to manipulate them into buying, or rather, believing, in a certain product or brand. They are part of a research system, which time and time again, has proven to be wrong and misguiding, if adapted out of its own limitations and use.

“Whilst our behaviour has changed, our underlying drivers haven’t.”

We still do the same things we use to do centuries ago – our instinct to adapt, socialize and be part of a community is still deeply entrenched in our genetics. Like Phil Barden, managing director of strategic marketing consultancy Decode Marketing and author of Decoded: ‘The Science Behind Why We Buy’, said: “What is all this Gen Y, Z, millennials bullsh*t? Brains don’t change in a decade. Waste of research. No surprises at all. Why? Because Millennials want what other humans do. Simple.”

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Written by Giada Bertola – our Creative Imagineering intern – a young and hustling bicultural lady.

Sources:

https://www.salesforce.com/blog/2017/10/how-millennials-and-gen-z-are-different.html
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-20/gen-z-to-outnumber-millennials-within-a-year-demographic-trends
http://fortune.com/2016/02/20/millennial-entrepreneurs-study/
http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/world-population-by-year/
https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/millennial-dilemma-generation-mindset-irrelevance/1384287