You may have noticed that between you and your parents there seems to be quite a large ideological difference.
There are a number of factors that can be considered when distinguishing generations. Namely the most popular ideologies, clothing, music, taste, values etc.
With every new generation comes a new set of eyes and minds to perceive our world in a different way in order to bring about change. There is a noticeable difference between your parents and you because there HAS to be a difference between your parents and you. It’s for this reason that newer generations (namely millennials and generation z) prefer simpler more stylistic clothing, faster more rhythm based songs and are generally to the left politically, because their parents (generally) preferred the opposite of all these things.
Continuing along these lines is the issue of the internet. Outside of your computer science or IT professional you’d be hard pressed to find any person of a former generation capable of using the internet, or indeed technology as a whole, proficiently. Past generations end up stuck in their ways and it is the job of their children to carry forward ideas they were too stubborn to consider.
Of course, a generation gap does not simply affect ideology, but business in a major way too. The greatest adversary of an advertiser, I’d argue, is someone – or a group of people, whom he doesn’t understand. It’s from this dilemma that cringe worthy ads and advertising campaigns stem from, as they attempt to chase after concepts like memes and relatability in order to grow their brands. Everyone has at least seen one ad that attempts this and fails. Essentially, it becomes the job of an advertiser and marketer to find the best possible way to appeal to the younger generation – an often-difficult task when your target audience is much younger than you are in fact. A great example of this is the massive presence of online businesses, any retail or service industry that has failed to make the move has undoubtedly either lost out on profits or eventually sunk into bankruptcy (case in point: Blockbuster).
All in all, generation gaps play a very prevalent role in the structure and economy of a society, and will continue to be the driving factor behind changes in business strategies and social views world-wide.
Muhammad Haad
LAHORE
