The Most Mythologized Generation in History

Surely the boomer generation, if not the greatest generation, is the most mythologized generation in history.

Interestingly the boomer generation was not named until former People magazine editor Landon Jones did so in his 1981book Great Expectations: America and the Baby Boom Generation. By then, the oldest boomer was 35-years-old – well past his or her hell-raising years of youthhood.

The term “boomer” has been a buzzword bigtime in marketing circles since the first boomers turned 60 in January of 2006. It seems that almost everyone in business is trying to figure out how to make oodles of money in boomer markets as its constituents head into their sunset years.

I am frequently asked, “What products do you think will do well in aging boomer markets.” My stock answer is, “same products that did well when their parents were in their twilight years.”

From podiums, in newsletters, in conference rooms and in books and media quotes, many self-avowed boomer experts spew out spurious claims that readers and audiences internalize as gospel fact. It starts with the claim that boomers have changed everything in their path from their childhood on.

For the record, boomers were not – despite oft-heard claims to the contrary – the driving force in the cultural upheavals of the 1960s and ‘70s. It was the so-called “Silent Generation” whose members included Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Nader, Bobby Kennedy, Tom Hayden, Jerry Rubin, Stokely Carmichael, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez – and on and on and on. You will not find the name of a single boomer on any list of thought leaders in the 1960s and ‘70s.

Despite their overblown record as supreme world changers (keep in mind that every generation since the dawn of the industrial revolution has been a world-changing generation), boomers are still being described in unsupportable terms.

Take for example the claim that boomers are entering old age much healthier than their parents and destined to live much longer. In light of recent research, both claims turn out to be overstated.

Last Fall, Beth Soldo of the University of Pennsylvania released a study indicating that boomers are not as healthy as their parents were at comparable ages.

From all over came cries of denial and outrage by protagonists of boomer superiority. The data were incorrectly analyzed. The research protocols were flawed. The interpretations of findings failed to take into account the fact that boomers reporting poorer health than their parents simply have higher expectations about their health than parents. Those and other statements of protest sought to undermine Dr. Soldo’s research.

Now comes another study that supports Dr. Soldo’s research. According to a study covering 1,000 counties, life expectancy is falling for a significant number of women for the first time since the 1918 Spanish influenza epidemic. Life expectancy of men also fell, although by not so nearly large margins.

While the study was limited to a sampling of counties, a number of which are in poorer region of the country, the findings nevertheless indicate that claims of boomer superhealth are wildly overstated.

The fact that life expectancy is falling in a significant slice of the population should not be surprising given that 65 percent of Americans are overweight with nearly 35 percent being chronically obese. Those who talk about the trillion dollar-plus healthier and lnger living boomer population seem to be drawing on generalizations based on regulars at Gold’s Gym and the aging cyclists and runners on the trails and roadways in their communities.

So, the concluding point keep your grains of salt at hand when someone is about to tell you about boomers. Being the most mythologized generation in history, much of what you hear about boomers is sheer confabulation.

 

 

 

 

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Comments

[Dick Ambrosius]

Today's posting is dead on; but will no doubt be largely ignored. When I am asked to speak on how to effectively market "retirement" communities to older adults, conference planners prefer to have "Boomers" in the title or, at a minimum in the description. I just tell them the secret is to be patient and wait anohter 10 years until they reach the age when older adults generally start considering this option as they plan for future health care needs and desire more control over their day to day schedules. The only thing Boomer really have in common is their large numbers.

[naomi dagen bloom]

Took a leap of faith to add The Boomer Chronicles to my blogroll. Realized that I needed to get over the power of that word and its many negative connatations for myself, a pre-boom elderblogger.

[joared]

Hear! Hear! You've certainly pegged this topic accurately. I've been protesting and correcting these widely held false beliefs about boomers for some time. Unfortunately, some of them have actually believed their own press.

I'm certainly more than willing to give them credit for contributions, but I think it's important those boomer who don't yet understand, stop and take a good honest realistic look at what generations before them achieved.

As with any generation, not all members are progressive, but it's a mistake to think the "noise" the boomer's made in the '60s accounted for the changes that took place. The ground work was put in place long before that and the boomer generation was in the right place at the right time to keep gains moving forward.

[TJM]

I'm younger than the boomers (gen-X if I had to be classified by age) have always found the fascination that boomers have for themselves to be tedious beyond belief. There is not a whole lot under the sun that is truly "new", as you rightly point out, from super-health to thinking that you are changing everything!