Boomer Bashing

It seems there is a lot of boomer* bashing in the media these days. Articles like “40 things All Baby Boomers Think Are Cool ” frequently pop up on my internet news. The list includes things like ironing, all caps, jorts. I don't think any of these are cool. Another article headlined, “Got a Granny, You’ll Understand These Photos,”(2) with photos of things such as plastic furniture covers. I remember seeing a plastic furniture cover only once when I was 6 years old. Then there’s the Progressive Insurance series of ads teaching people, “How to Not to be Your Parents.”

I chose a positive graphic for boomers

My reaction to these “spots” is to argue back. I am nothing like that! I hate ironing! The last time I ironed was in the 80s. I NEVER USE ALL CAPS. And I don’t even know what jorts are!”

I fought these false accusations by listing things that I like that are antithetical to the 40 things list. “online shopping vs. catalogs, factchecking vs. conspiracy theories, game shows vs. procedural police dramas, ethnic foods vs. chain restaurants and Mrs. Dash.

Then I mentally composed reasons why they aren’t talking about me. “They must be talking about a different demographic than the one I’m in – maybe a different geographic region, maybe rural versus urban, maybe a different age group like my mother or grandma.”

Why do I cringe when I see these media spots? Because they imply the things that boomers like and do are stupid. They lump us all into one category that apparently deserves their disdain. While the Progressive media manager claims the “How Not to be Your Parents” ads aren’t meant to be mean, they seem mean-spirited to me. They paint a fantasy image of what ‘older’ people are like and poke fun at it. I want to shout, “I’m nothing like that!” But that’s not the point.

Then it hits me: isn’t that stereotyping, a fixed generalized belief about a group?”

So now us boomers know what it feels like to be stereotyped. Sciencedirect.com even used older people in their definition of stereotyping, “The process of stereotyping is one in which the subtle differences and nuances that distinguish one individual older person from another are dissolved in order to transform aging into one uniform process.” (3)

I ask myself, “what’s really behind the boomer bashing?”

I get it that young adults are trying to chart their own path. As I matured, I many times looked at what my parents did and said, “I don’t want to be like that.” That’s part of growing up. But I was never compelled to lump my parents, and others their age, into a category based on one of their likes or dislikes. I knew they weren’t all alike. They had different furniture styles, clothing styles, hobbies, religions. And I didn't denigrate them. While they did some things I laughed at and didn't agree with, they supported me and gave me valuable life lessons. And yes, I sometimes say to myself, "oops, I'm acting just like mom," but it's not a horrible feeling, just something I noticed and chuckle at.

I never laughed that my grandma’s peers wore flowered housedresses and black, tied, sensible granny shoes. I wouldn’t wear them, but they weren’t something to laugh at. They represented my grandma and her siblings and they brought feelings of love and respect – not disdain.

The point of stereotypes is to distinguish ourselves from the ‘other.’ Psychologists say our brains are wired to put things into categories. And as social animals, we need to be able to distinguish who is friend or foe. (4)

That’s why these seemingly cute spots are so disturbing to me. They are pushing me out of the category of ‘friend’ and placing me in the category of ‘foe.’ I am not a person to be admired for my accomplishments but someone to be laughed at because I have grey hair. I am no longer relevant.

It's scary that negative stereotyping now seems acceptable as a means to sell products. Ads used to be about the product. Then ads they moved toward what the product could do for you, “use X after shave and girls will love you.” While misleading, ads that promise a social benefit are somewhat harmless. Ads like the Progressive ad are suggesting a supposed social superiority of the target audience to sell their products. “You wouldn’t want to do the stupid things your parents do.”

Now, thanks to Progressive, millions of young people think all people with grey hair keep ancient stuff in their freezer (“This is a freezer, not a time capsule”), are obsessive about keeping lines straight (“folks, the line’s a shambles, let’s tuck it in”), leave voicemails instead of texting. and take their own snacks to movies and book signings.

Even worse than the ads is the Gen Z phrase “OK Boomer.” (7) It’s on mugs, sweatshirts, shopping bags and even on boxer shorts. There are at least two OK Boomer games. They use this phrase to discount our ideas. They think boomers ‘don’t get it.’ They think we are all solely responsible for everything that is wrong in the world today: economic inequalities, environmental damage, and racism. One internet article said, “Racism will die when the boomers die.” Ouch! Perhaps that author doesn’t realize it was the boomers who fought for the Equal Rights Amendment and voting rights. Wasn’t it our generation who started Earth Day? By the way, our generation uses fewer disposable plastic bottles than any generation (5), and when we use them we are far more likely to recycle them. (6)

In fairness, they also use that phrase when older generations lecture them on standards from our time that no longer apply: “You’ll never get a job with pink hair or a tattoo.”

After being at the brunt of this mean-spirited stereotyping, I remind myself:

• Don’t assume everyone in a certain category shares the same characteristics

• Try to build bridges, not walls, between the generations.

* By boomer I include a wider span of ages than what’s technically defined as boomers: People older or younger than me. Many of my friends were born pre-1946, but we all grew up in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. I also notice some of the things they suggest boomers do are actually things my mother or grandmother did.

References

1. 40 things All Baby Boomers Think Are Cool, alot. The list varies a bit, depending on who publishes it but it includes: cruises, diamonds, potpourri, malls, conspiracy theories, Home Shopping Networks, Reader’s Digest, Jorts, Golf, Crocs, procedural police dramas, knick-knacks, China, shopping catalogs, chain restaurants, giving retail workers a hard time, processed foods, dry toast, Ironing, air-brushed t-shirts, emails (exclusively), land lines, stored paper work, all Caps, Mrs. Dash, Patterned wallpaper, Cable TV, fuzzy toilet seats, fossil fuels, infomercials, weird salads (Jell-O), Avon, Juice concentrate, TV dinners, bar soap.

2 Hendy, Got a Grandma? You’ll Understand These Photos, The Chive, October 9, 2022

3 ScienceDirect, Stereotyping, From: Encyclopedia of Gerontology (Second Edition), 2007

4 ABC News, The Psychology of Stereotyping,

5 Single-use plastic bottle use by age group, ResearchGate,

6 Number of PET bottles recycled in the US by age group in 2017, Statistica

7 Taylor Lorenz, ‘OK Boomer’ Marks the End of Friendly Generational Relations, The New York Times, October 26, 2019