Harnessing the Unexpected Similarities of Gen Z & Boomers

Perhaps no two groups in pop culture today are seen as more dichotomous than Gen Z and Baby Boomers.

The narrative goes that to Gen Z, Boomers are old, rigid white men deeply out of touch with societal problems having grown up in an era when college cost $25 per semester. Meanwhile, to Boomers, Gen Z are lazy idealists who traded work ethic for participation trophies.

Perhaps no better encapsulated than by pop phrases like “OK, Boomer” both sides lean into the narrative that prevails among the public, advertisers, and social media. The inference being that for policy makers, brands, and organizational leaders then, there is no way to reach both groups at once and to create shared communities where both feel heard... right?

When you picture a Boomer...who comes to mind? You’re likely picturing an old man with a gut. But, it’s worth asking yourself – Why didn’t I instead think of Dolly Parton, Carrie Fisher, Barack Obama, Oprah, Prince, or Steve Jobs?

There is so much more to Boomers and Gen Z than we’re allowing space for. Below, I bust 3 myths about their incompatibility and explore opportunities to build shared Boomer and Gen Z communities.

3 HIDDEN FORCES OF BOOMERS & THE OPPORTUNITY WITH GEN Z

(1) INDIVIDUALITY & TECHNOLOGY

Myth: Boomers are a collectivist cohort

As the first truly individualistic American generation Boomers ushered the shift away from a collectivist culture; most famously by rejecting the military draft during the Vietnam war, but also through smaller ques, like men growing out their hair. Nicknamed the “Me Generation” Boomers took pride in being unique while previous generations celebrated conformity and tradition.

A language analysis by Dr. Jean Twenge of the Google Books database between 1970-1980 reveals a huge spike in phrases like “I am unique,” and “I believe I am above average”– a reflection of the individualist attitude and a focus on the self not seen by previous generations. From having their own TVs to wide access to birth control for the first time, Boomers experienced a spike in technology fueled creativity and individualism. Twenge goes on to write of the era, “It’s difficult to imagine Steve Jobs being the same person, or helping to create the same innovative products if he'd been born in the 1930s and entered young adulthood in the communal 1950s instead of being born in the 1950s and entered young adulthood in the individualist 1970s.”

Alongside this influx of new technology, Boomers also suffered higher rates of suicide and depression than the generations both before and after them (15% fewer Boomers said they were happy than Silents at the same age). Some point to the fact that Boomers grew up in a hyper-consumerist and advertising rich culture (the first to be advertised to as children) as cause for the high drug and alcohol. Donald A. Malone, M.D., director of the Mood and Anxiety Clinic at the Cleveland Clinic wrote recently, “We know for certain that baby boomers have a higher prevalence rate of depression than the generation before them.” Through this lens, technology and individualism also drove despair – always told to own more, do more, be better, and look better. Sound familiar, Gen Z?

Gen Z similarity: Individuality, creativity and self-expression are core pillars of the Gen Z ethos. They’re inherently comfortable branding and expressing themselves through digital creative tools and they uniquely describe creative pursuits as essential. Their individuality and self-expression are seen as vital to successful relationship building, self-realization, and, increasingly, the ability to make a living. But they’re also drowning in wellness, wealth and self-improvement content. Social media and influencer culture has given Gen Z a chance to learn anything they want, but also a toxic place to see everything they don’t have – everything they are not.

So, when it comes to mental health – Gen Z again finds commonality with Boomer’s spike in depression and hopelessness. Today’s youth are facing record levels of anxiety and deep feelings of isolation. With 73% of Gen Z reporting feeling alone either sometimes or always the Surgeon General has raised alarm on the “Loneliness Epidemic.”

What if Gen Z helped Boomers get comfortable talking about anxiety and loneliness?

Gen Z, often referred to as “The Most Anxious Generation” due to their struggles with loneliness and anxiety might be surprised to learn that Boomers actually suffer from higher rates of depression and nearly equal rates of anxiety.

So, while Boomers are often portrayed as dismissing of mental health – what if brands highlighted the commonality in these cohorts’ struggles and created spaces for Boomers to give Gen Z a wider life perspective and for Gen Z to give Boomers tips for accessing mental health resources on emerging digital platforms?

(2) SOCIAL CHANGE & POLITICS

Myth: Boomers cling to order and tradition in fear of new social ideals

The 1960s are often referred to as the Decade of Revolution. The 70s, too, were ripe with counterculture and civil rights movements. Social revolution around gender, race, and sexuality spiked when Boomers were in their 20s and 30s. In the workplace, for example, example, only 3% of new lawyers were women in 1965, but 30% were by 1980, when the oldest Boomers were 24.

Ever politically involved, Boomers dominated Congress and hold the highest voting turnout of any group of 18–24-year-olds both before and since that time. And in 2020 they again had the highest voter turnout of any generation at 76%. This is a generational difference, not an age difference.

Gen Z similarity: Much like Boomers, Gen Z are highly politically active and socially conscious, already having spawned popular movements around issues like climate change, gun control, and abortion. From income inequality to racism in the workplace, these issues are dominant attributes of Gen Z culture. Today, 40% of Gen Z would boycott a brand over its political views, compared with 16% of Millennials.

What if Boomers inspired the next wave of Gen Z social change?

Boomers have become synonymous with man-splaining and bro-boardrooms (again, for good reason). But Boomers are also synonymous with the explosion and recognition of women in corporate America. What if, rather than focusing on what divides us, brands created more spaces for Boomer and Gen Z women to discuss gender dynamics and opportunities to improve the workplace together? Or, what if brands helped Boomers push Gen Z to vote by highlighting Boomer’s continuously high participation and the associated results?

(3) SEXUALITY & SUBSTANCE USE

Myth: Boomers are sober curmudgeons who cannot fathom changing sexual and gender dynamics

Boomers ushered in an era of sexual liberation. In 1967 85% of US adults said that premarital sex was wrong, by 1979 that number was just 37%. Singles culture and delayed marriage age flourished as Boomers entered young adulthood. Boomers were the first generation to discuss sex, drugs, abuse, and mental health openly in the media. Emmy Award Winning-journalist Diana Olick wrote of the group, “They fought on the front lines of the sexual revolution. Their battle cry was “free love” and their weapon of choice was the birth control pill. They took sex out of the bedroom and put it on Madison Avenue. And 40 years later, they're still at it.”

They were also non-conformists and wellness experimenters. In 1969, 1 out of 25 American adults said they had ever tried marijuana, in 1977 that figure was 1 in 4—a figure that again reversed direction with Gen X and Millennials (a generational difference, not an age difference).

Gen Z similarity: Gen Z has mirrored Boomers’ attitudes (and pushed the conversations further) on sex and drugs. For example, helping to grow the emerging legal cannabis marketplace Boomers laid the foundation for (no 18–24-year-olds in US history consumed more cannabis than Boomers), 65% of people aged 18-24 prefer marijuana to alcohol today.

In terms of sexual behavior, both groups deeply upended the conventions of their time – Boomers with premarital sex and number of partners and Gen Z with double the number of bisexual identifiers than the generation before them. Today, nearly 1/37 of American Gen Z identify as LGBTQ. Gen Z has also completely transformed modern gender constructs – namely that gender is a spectrum rather than a binary structure. Nearly 60% of Gen Zers believe that there should be an option besides 'man' or 'woman' on forms that ask about gender.

What if Gen Z and Boomers helped each other feel more sex positive?

While it’s true that Boomers ushered in a total upheaval of gender roles, they largely disagree with Gen Z’s modern extension of progressive gender constructs – namely that gender is a spectrum rather than a binary structure. Does this have to be viewed as a dead end, or could this be an opportunity for Gen Z to use Boomer’s progressive history on this topic as a jumping off point for new conversations?

Similarly, we normally focus on the generational differences in sexuality (e.g., that 84% of Boomers are “only attracted to the opposite sex” compared with only 52% of Gen Z) what if we instead highlighted the shared courage of our respective progress – the emphasis on choice over tradition shown by each cohort in their youth. Or the fights these generations have in common – like the many Boomers who fought for LGBT rights in the 1969 Stonewall Riots or the women who led the Women’s Rights Movement during the “second wave” of feminism. What if brands connected Boomer advocates with emerging Gen Z creators?

Moving forward:

Armed with these parallels I believe we can shift some of our focus from the differences and lean into our similarities to build stronger shared communities and impact positive change. We have become so quick to judge each respective generations without acknowledging behavior and progress in the contexts and technologies they were experienced within. I sincerely believe there is an untapped opportunity for brands and other organizational leaders to win with both group by harnessing the shared traits we’ve collectively ignored in recent years.

Sources:

1 https://www.forbes.com/sites/kianbakhtiari/2023/07/28/gen-z-the-loneliness-epidemic-and-the-unifying-power- of-brands/?sh=25b9ac3f6790 2 https://business.yougov.com/content/46593-us-gen-z-more-likely-to-seek-mental-health-treatment-than-baby- boomers?redirect_from=%2Fcontent%2F8207-us-gen-z-more-likely-to-seek-mental-health-treatment-than-baby- boomers

3 https://vote2020project.adcouncilkit.org/wp- content/uploads/sites/79/2019/09/AdCouncil_VoteReport_2019_Final.pdf

4 https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna12288548 5 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2022-05-31/gen-z-prefers-marijuana-or-shrooms-to- alcohol#:~:text=Gen%20Z%2C%20the%20meme%2Dhungry,Data%2C%20a%20cannabis%20research%20firm. 6 https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2021- 02/topline_gendersexuality_identity_022321_0.pdf 7 https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/nearly-30-gen-z-adults-identify-lgbtq-national-survey-finds- rcna135510wha 8 https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20230327-how-young-people-are-shaking-off-gender-binaries#