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One wonders what happens when, instead of marketing phrases becoming old and tired, an entire culture does the same.
 One columnist recently noted that people get the form of government they deserve. Following that thinking, one might say that people get the media, the marketing and the advertising they deserve.
This may not bode well for us. As boomers continue to age, advertising becomes whinier, more complaint-focused. As we eat our breakfast and get ready to face the day, we’re inundated with TV and magazine ads with people wincing in pain, along the lines of, “Act now, before the aging process bites you like this. It’s inevitable.”
It’s an interesting time to be a consumer in North America. The biggest economic boom in the history of time has and is occurring around us. People talk about their grand homes, vacation homes, investment property, stocks, new cars, private planes and their latest cruise. What a party.
Every party I’ve ever been to that was any good required some serious cleaning up after. That dilemma may prompt more thought than we’ve been willing to employ up until now.
As you consider this, reader, you are tempted to think that I’m a griping, kill-joy old coot. Exactly my point. Expect a lot more of this to express itself through the media as boomers age. We can’t escape ourselves. The youthful ones coming up behind will try to sound the call for optimism, but they will be overcome by sheer numbers. Resistance is futile.
I have a theory about aging as it relates to public speaking, and then we can relate that to marketing. Having done public speaking for the past 20 years, I think this summary holds true about public speakers: 20-year-olds talk about endless opportunity and innovation because they still think they can accomplish anything. 30-year-olds relate everything they talk about to raising children, because their kids are now old enough to overwhelm them. 40-year-olds are beginning a long downward trajectory, and so they talk about how bad things are becoming.
By the time speakers are 50, they go one of two ways. They either are humbled by the realization of how little they know, or they refuse to accept the truth and become people who rant on whatever topic they take interest in. I could still go either way on this one myself.
The point is, if American sales and marketing takes a similar route, as marketing expresses itself within our aging culture we can expect both a little more humility and more serious ranting. Humility, or discretion is a better word, along the lines of those people in marketing who refuse to stoop to sexualizing everything. They take their humor and advertising hooks to a higher place.
On the low extreme, expect ranting along the lines of Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake, that is, desperate grabs for attention.
If we’re getting the media, marketing and advertising we deserve, what does that say about us?
Well, it’s not all bad, and neither are we. But some traditional tricks, like adding a dose of sex to everything from granola to deodorant, is getting old and tired. Hey, me too.
Aesoph is president of The Aesoph Group
www.aesoph.com
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