Financial Times article by Richard Tomkins

Today's FT has an article by Richard Tomkins titled: the elixir of youth leaves baby-boomers malnourished.
I think you will need to have a subscription to the FT to view the article.

One of his central themes is the youth centric nature of Western culture. This quote explains how he believes this situation has occurred.

"Fifty years ago western society was essentially paternalistic, with those in charge telling the masses what was good for them. But that was before competitive capitalism started sweeping away the old status barriers and liberating people to do what they wanted. Today, in a free market, there is lots of money to be made by offering people what is popular - pop culture - and very little at all to be made from offering them what their "betters" think they should have. So pop culture thrives and becomes a vast global industry while high-brow is left struggling to adjust to changed times."

This is my response to the FT about the article.

I totally agree with Richard Tomkin’s conclusion (Malnourished baby-boomers) that western culture has undergone a transformation that favours the young. It appears that Eastern culture is rapidly moving in the same direction.

The media, entertainment and advertising industries are locked in a destructive youth-centric embrace that is increasingly detached from economic reality. Advertisers focus on the young, encouraging TV programmers to increase their youth content, leading to yet more youth related commentary in the media. Meanwhile, in the real world, consumer spending power continues to concentrate with the over 50s.

Where Mr Tomkins is wrong is his belief that Gillette’s sponsorship of David Beckham illustrates a blind obsession with the young. I suspect Mr Beckham is one of those few people with broad international appeal across the age spectrum and between the sexes. It is far too simplistic to think that consumers only relate to people of their own age group.

He finished his article by saying “The markets, not our elders know best”, implying that he expects little to change. I disagree. In the long term marketing follows the money – always has always will. The allure of older peoples’ spending power will not be an exception.