Talkin’ ‘Bout Those Generations: The Silliness Encapsulated In One Chart

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Gen Xer Who Rolls His Eyes At Gen-Anything…

Check out the above table from Marketing Charts “The Biggest Spending Generation in the World? Gen X”. What’s wrong with this data?

First, and obviously, it’s of mythical generations.

You could target Virgos or people born during the Year of the Rabbit with equal credibility. Note that the age ranges are inconsistent lengths. One is 10 years. One is 14. One is 18. And two are 15. That shows that the starting and end points of each generation are completely arbitrary, and even the researchers conducting this study (NIQ & World Data Lab) couldn’t agree on how long a generation actually is. Only so-called Boomers have a clear beginning: the end of WWII, or more exactly, 9 months after the end of WWII. The rest are debatable. At least with astrology and the Chinese lunar calendar, everyone agrees on the dates.

Second, ever notice how silly those ranges are in terms of stereotyping people?

Let’s look at Gen Z as defined above: 12 to 27 year olds. Gee, I wonder if they all drink the same brand of whisky or vote for the same political parties. And if you look around your city, you can’t help but notice all the 12-year-olds hanging with 27-year-olds at milk bars to catch up on the latest Nickelodeon cartoons and employment opportunities in the healthcare sector. In truth, the people at the ends of each “generation” have more in common with people at the ends of the adjacent generations.

BTW, what happened to 28 year-olds in this study? Did the researchers just say, “Hey, forget those guys, they’re nothing but trouble”? (They’re probably right.)

Third, I’d love to see a detailed study of consumer spending by 1-year-olds.

“Excuse me, sir, can you explain whether tariffs have affected your willingness to purchase non-essentials?”

“Yah, gah-gah-gah, SQUEEEE!”

Finally, I have one question for marketers who still insist on segmenting by generation:

Why are so many of you obsessed with Gen Z, and completely dismissive of older consumers?

If this chart is accurate, people over 60 spend more than 12-27 year olds! Yet every TV show that doesn’t attract “advertisers’ coveted 18-to-29 year-old segment” gets canceled. No wonder broadcast and cable TV are dying.

Takeaway…

You’ll no doubt read and hear about generational stereotypes everywhere you work and in everything you read, but just because something is popular doesn’t make it right. Generational stereotyping is the marketing equivalent of vaping: it’s popular and might give you a buzz, but in the long run, you’ll wish you hadn’t done it.