Um, Could You Not Call Us Gen Y Or Millennials?
Posted by anastasia on 08-21-2008
I found this really interesting press release about a study Harris Interactive did (Harris is a Ypulse Research sponsor) for Charles Schwab and Age Wave where they asked 4,000 Americans aged 21 to 83 what they thought of different generations. As you might expect Gen Y is getting a bad rap right now unless you consider being called and calling themselves “self indulgent” a positive characteristic. I think the youngest generation will always be dissed by older generations until they’re old enough to rag on the new young generation. I thought it was funny that a few of the generations including Gen Y, my own (Gen X), and the Silent Generation all want to rebrand ourselves. As for the rest, like on “Family Feud,” survey says?
- Baby Boomers (35%) are most widely viewed as having a positive effect on society, followed by Generation X (25%);
- The Silent Generation (33%) and the Greatest Generation (30%) are the most widely admired generations, followed by Baby Boomers (22%);
- The Silent Generation (40%) and Baby Boomers (33%) are widely viewed as the most generous;
- The two generations widely seen as the most productive are Baby Boomers (45%) and Generation X (32%);
- A 53 percent majority (including a majority of Gen Y itself) believe Generation Y is the most self-indulgent, followed by Generation X (25%);
- A 41 percent plurality sees Generation X as the most innovative, followed by Baby Boomers (25%) and Generation Y (22%);
- There is no consensus as to which generation is most socially conscious, but Baby Boomers (34%) and Generation X (26%) top the list;
- Gen Y would like to rename themselves the “Internet Generation” (32%). They really dislike being called “Generation Y” or “Millennials”;
- Gen X would choose to rename themselves “Generation Tech” (25%). They dislike being called “Generation X”;
- Baby Boomers are the only generation which seems to really like the name given to them (27%)
- The Silent Generation would re-name themselves the “Responsible Generation” (44%). They strongly dislike being called “Silent” or “Invisible.”
Thoughts? Surprised? Not Surprised?
Categorized under: Youth Marketing
August 24th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Internet Generation seems to fit better than Millennial which doesn’t impact much information. However, I doubt it will stick. It’s not catchy enough and any Google search of “millennial” will tell you we are already pretty far down the road with that name, although the text books tend to stick with Gen Y. I think we’re stuck with Millenials.
October 1st, 2008 at 9:50 pm
What’s in a name? It is not the name but the meaning inferred for that generation. Name each generation what you like, it does not change the facts.