Profile of the Boomer Consumer: Myth #7
Posted on August 24th, 2008 by Christine Babick
Seventh in the top ten myths: You can capture Boomers with mainstream advertising
Boomers pay attention to advertising, but they do not always like what they see.
- 66 percent say ads have gotten more crude in recent years
- 67 percent are less likely to purchase a product if they find the advertising offensive
- 23 percent consider ads geared toward their age group insulting
Here, the key for the marketer is to find out exactly what is considered offensive to those 67 percent!
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Christine Babick is a blogger at www.beneaththebrand.com. A marketing strategist and linguist, she specializes in marketing language, website text, “emo copy,” and cause and relationship marketing.
Article Tags: AARP | Babick | Boomer | Boomers | Consumers | marketing | Myths | Report | Research | Trend
Filed under: Marketing Niche, Research
I am a boomer and found that AARP article very enightening. Now if everyone in America UNDER the age of 50 would read those 10 myths we’d be in great shape….
RE: the topic of advertising, to me personally it’s not that ad materials are offensive (tho some of my cohort may actually feel that as their conservative views increase as they grow older) it’s that the sense of what is funny, or important seems to have shifted.
Something can be a little off-color and still be pretty funny; what makes something offensive to me is either sheer stupidity and a dumbing down of humor. For me the heyday of advertising was the 1950′d and 1960’s of Stan Freberg and the other NY giants. When idea was king.
Now that we’ve built our temples to consumerism, it all just is not as much fun as it used to be. There are some great humorists out there; there is some great material and great products. but since choice has become obligation to own rather than the fun of exploration and discovery of new things to buy, it all is a lot less interesting.
And, oh yea, boomers don’t need to be hit over the head; nuance is a great tool. If you have to try too hard maybe it isn’t that clever a concept? Some of my young contemporaries might get off their reinventing-the-wheel-high-horses for just a moment to see their perception — how stupid and dull they think boomers are — and recognize that we are neither stupid, nor unconsious, we’re just not that into their ideas.