Why are labels like Baby Boomer and Generation X a behavioural hoax?
Given society’s fascination for labels or pigeonholes into which we neatly place prominent and influential groups, it came as no surprise when the terms Baby Boomer and Yuppie came into prominence in the late seventies and early eighties, only to be followed by Generation X and Generation Y in the 1990s. Some of these labels become pejoratives – the term Yuppie for example – while others, such as Generation X and Generation Y, become badges of honour; rites of passage. But all are fundamentally misleading as drivers or determinants of consumption behaviour. Generation X and Generation Y join the Baby Boomer label as part of the greatest behavioural hoax of the past century. Let’s look at the term Baby Boomer – technically anyone born between the end of World War II and the early 1960s. Business around the world bases decisions on predictions of the needs of Baby Boomers – as if an urban 53-year-old academic will behave in ways even vaguely similar to a 57-year-old middle-ranking sales
