Brent Green, Boomers

Boomers as Consumers, The New York Times, and the Value of Aging

October 5, 2012 | Brent Green, Boomers

“After 40 years of catering to younger consumers, advertisers and media executives are coming to a different realization: older people aren’t so bad, after all.” So goes the lead to a recent New York Times article about a marketing transformation underway. Suddenly the venerable newspaper has produced an article that unambiguously acknowledges what the marketing industry has been way-too-slow to accept: “older people,” namely Baby Boomers, are too lucrative to ignore even though over 80% of the generation has aged…

Is "American Idol" an example of institutionalized ageism?

October 2, 2012 | Brent Green, Boomers

Popular culture favors youth. Celebrity favors youth. Many of today’s icons of the Boomer generation achieved fame before turning 25, certainly by 35. But unlike older generations, where many youth icons faded from superstardom after age 45, Boomer icons persist today, filling stadiums (Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Gene Simmons, and Bonnie Rait) and winning starring roles in movies (Richard Gere, Jessica Lange, Meryl Streep, and Sigourney Weaver, to name a few). The Boomer generation’s cultural hegemony is maintaining and even…

Baby Boomers: The Entitled Generation, by Bill Keller, New York Times Op-Ed Columnist

July 30, 2012 | Brent Green, Boomers

Bill Keller, an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times, painstakingly summed up his baby boom birth cohort as “The Entitled Generation.” This snippy criticism is typical of jeremiads written by and for Boomers to portray unseemly conclusions about the nation’s largest generation. So writes the columnist from on high, “We are an entitled bunch.” Keller’s views fall way short of balance. For example, while warning of and alleging future entitlement fund shortfalls to be imposed by the generation, he…

A Baby Boomer Victim of Aurora, Colorado, Century 16 Theater Massacre

July 25, 2012 | Brent Green, Boomers

Gordon W. Cowden, age 51, was the oldest of twelve fatalities in the Aurora Century 16 movie theater massacre. A quick-witted global explorer and small business owner, he will be remembered for his devotion to his family. He had taken his two teenagers to the July 20, 2012, midnight debut to fulfill and share their excitement for the Batman movie franchise and premiere of the summer: The Dark Knight Rises. His children escaped unharmed but not unscathed. A makeshift memorial…

Aurora, Colorado: This Dark Night Shall Surrender to Dawn

July 23, 2012 | Brent Green, Boomers

Obama vs Romney: strategies to capture critical Boomers+ in battleground states

July 12, 2012 | Brent Green, Boomers

Middle-aged and older adults living in battleground or "swing states" represent 41.90 percent of the population in those states. So the 2012 presidential contest may swing on choices made by undecided Baby Boomers and older voters in just ten states. Battleground states include Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Florida. (This is a dynamic list and changes with voter polls, political gaffes and sometimes the wind.) Swing states are critical to the outcome…

2012 LOHAS Forum: Where Boomer Mentors Shared Wisdom with Younger Generations

June 20, 2012 | Brent Green, Boomers

LOHAS is an acronym for Lifestyles of Health & Sustainability, a values-driven consumer cohort identified in the late 1990s. Consumers described as LOHAS are passionate about sustainability, health and wellness, personal development, resource conservation, corporate responsibility, social justice, and natural and organic products. They annually purchase $350 billion in goods and services worldwide. Early adopters by nature, LOHAS consumers shop for energy-efficient electronics, green household products, natural personal products, organic foods, hybrid automobiles, green building products, socially responsible investments, and…

A Test of Will: On Baby Boomers, Obesity, Illness and Health

May 1, 2012 | Brent Green, Boomers

Two titanic forces are shaping society’s views of aging and health, one uplifting, one destructive. Which will prevail? In the first article of this two-part series, Brent Green addresses “the state of Boomer health”and the grave, looming threats to a generation’s collective well-being. The boy lay pensively inside an oxygen tent, struggling to breathe the cold, aseptic air; nurses and doctors gathered curiously around their small patient. The child was frightened by this sea of white coats, not knowing if…

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Brent Green, Boomers

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