Are Boomers the special case we think they are?

Last week there was an excellent article in Marketing Week, by Richard Madden, that questioned the perceived wisdom about Baby Boomers was no more than a bundle of mass generalisations. I hate to say - I told you so - but I did tell you so.

He starts off the article was a precis of the argument that you read time and time again – in magazines like Marketing Week.

The Boomers are coming. Millions of them are reaching retirement age. And they’re not like the docile cardigan-wearing geriatrics of yesteryear. They’re radicalised. Suspicious of authority. And as consumers, they’re more demanding than any generation before or since.

Mr Madden then goes on to argue that a lot of this is journalist flimflam at best describes one small group of the age cohort.

He refers to David Kynaston’s terrific history of post-war Britain (Austerity Britain and Family Britain) 1945 – 1957. He is right when he says it is: “The nearest thing to a longitudinal qualitative study there’s ever been in this country. And it makes a very revealing read for anyone interested in Boomer psychology.” Could not agree more.

I just hope the other journalists on the Marketing Week and other marketing media read and understand what he saying. Maybe then I will get less calls asking me to summarise the ‘attitudes of Boomers’ in five bullet points. Dick Stroud