Baby+Boomers+to+Baby+Consumers.+Generation+Y.


 * Student Number: N8288607**
 * Student Name: Madeline Smith**
 * Tutor: Abbey**

BABY BOOMERS TO BABY CONSUMERS. GENERATION Y??


 * Is Gen Y too individualistic and consumer obsessed? What is the mental State of this Generation? **

The cultu ral artefact above displays a young baby being breastfed by his mother. The baby, as we can see is covered in todays most in-demand brands. Brands from Television, clothing, food and other miscellaneous of interest to generation y have been previewed in this picture. In one photo, we can see the relevance to the discussion regarding the individualistic and consumer-obsessed mindset instilled in Generation Y.

Generation Y is watched and scrutinized for various things. Their behaviours, values, morals, motivations and lifestyles have been said to be the most alarming in over 2 decades with regard to the future of our government and economy. This concern derives from their consumer obsessed, materialistic, financially destitute conduct that continues to be on the rise. This lifestyle is encouraged by list of contributors. These include marketing, internet, “buy now; pay later” policies, increased and easier access to producers and last but not least the manner of which they were brought up and the patterns they adopted through learned/ encouraged behavior, in particular the behaviours learned by generation x. The above matters are exactly what this artefact represents. The baby (generation y) and the mother (generation x) are the example of the mental health issue instilled through consumerism in our generation y. This issue and it’s contributors are what will discussed in the following.

With the boom in the “buy now pay later” mentality of today’s market, statistics surrounding the exploration of the Gen Y culture shows a rise in consumerism which in turn, shows an exploding rise is debt amongst the youngsters. Reporters state that 1/3 of graduates in the USA hold at least $20 000 in debt which is a 24% increase since 2004 (TMC News, 2010)

Nearly 70% of Gen Y members are not building up a cash cushion, and 43% are gathering too much credit card debt (MetLife poll 2010)

On average, Gen Yers each have more than three credit cards, and 20% of Australians of the Gen Y group carry a balance of more than $10,000, according to Fidelity Investments. Gen Y is expected to be the only generation over 3 decades to not exceed their parent’s financial success. This the case because they simply do not understand money. Gen Y is not earning the money that their baby boomer parents did, but have instead inherited their free spending consumerism. While Gen Y is the most educated generation with 85% holding a high school diploma and roughly 27% with a university degree, they are completely lost when it comes to finance and cash flow and have no concept of hard work with -About 37% of 18- to 29-year-olds being underemployed or out of work during the recession, the highest share among the age group in more than three decades. (Pew Research Center study, February 2011) Their demand for up-to-date material possessions outdoes their need for financial security later in life. Gen Y, with regard to money, saving, consumerism and financial success are simply seeing things through tunnel vision and in turn are setting themselves up for a life time in the workforce with the early retirement rate expected to drop substantially to a record low. What is also just as concerning, a survey was done by the Pew Research centre regarding health care coverage finding that only 51% had some form of coverage. The reason for the lack of coverage was expense. Gen Y accounts for 25% of the population. Individually they spend $100 a week on wants (not needs), which account for 150 billion annually to the consumer market. (Pew Research, 2011)

However as faulted as their judgement and decision making might be with finance, their mental health in the area of consumerism is not problematic health wise. Skewed, expensive, demanding financially damaging for their future, yes however it is not a matter of mental health but a matter of mental state. Being raised in a time of easy access to money, products, leisure etc as much as we disagree, we can see how such a culture arises. Easily influenced by the media, Gen Y is at a constant battle with themselves to have the most recent material belongings whether it be clothes, cars and as my colleague Simone will further discuss the most rapidly advancing market today being technology. Gen y has a constant need to be at the cutting edge of consumerism with continuously needing to maintain a sense of their identity through what they possess. This group of youngsters out does their gen x ancestors in now taking the lead in being at the top of consumer food chain however for very different reasons. Marketers saw gen x as an important target markets for the reason there was so many of them and now, gen y takes the lead not because of the population but because of how much they are willing to spend to maintain their lifestyle of which they have become accustomed. They are given opportunity, easy access and through strategic marketing, reason to spend as much as they do. Lead by example, Monkey See Monkey Do, Generation Y is looking at lifetime of debt due to their up bringing in a culture where by most materials are now available at a click of a button with no cost until later. With the temptation to ‘click’ so hard to resist, and saying the word “NO” was replaced by negotiation by their caregivers, we can see why they are consumer obsessed and are very short sighted financially.

This cultural issue not only effects not only the future of the Gen Y population, but the future of the generations to follow and on a wider scale the government and how the world is run on a economic level. Their spending behaviours today are insight to the pattern predicted to continue to occur later in life and therefore affect the function of the country ergo affecting everyone in it. If we understand the pattern of generation y, and we acknowledge that the pattern will continue throughout their lives, we can conclude that all peoples of all social standing are being affected by this ‘spending spree’. With all of us being affected by the generations handling of money, this issue shows no reason as to why it should not be at the top of educators, mentors, leaders and caregivers’ list of things to teach and reteach the young adults. There are studies that show awareness of the issue for example The Herald Sun wrote an article titled ‘A-Z of Generation Y’ outlining the patterns and behaviours of the generation including those involving money, power and individualism. The article states the following; “Their desire to consume can cause trouble. Of the record 3.7 million new credit-card applications last year, almost a third were from those aged 18 to 27. And a third of people failing to pay their bills are Gen Ys, Australia’s biggest consumer credit check company, Veda Advantage, says. Veda Advantage data reveals a surprising number of children of baby boomers default on credit payments soon after signing contracts -- they quickly borrow big to snap up mobiles phones and/or take overseas holidays. A Commonwealth Bank survey last year showed 73 per cent of Gen Y was in debt. A survey by employment group Manpower found about 54 per cent were single, 16 per cent still were still at home and 57 per cent were renters.” ( Herald Sun, 2007)

As factually based as this research was, the article offers no suggestion for improvement or change. Further, Mark McKrindle from the Australian Leadership Foundation and author of “Understanding Gen Y” wrote techniques to communicate with the generation, however also did not suggest on how to break the consumerism mentality. Society is evidently aware, we understand the pattern but we as a community do not understand how to break the pattern. The stepping-stones are set, through research and understanding of their wants and needs we can strategically relate, grab their attention and hold it for a moment. In those brief moments is when the education of their spending needs to occur. It is the duty of leaders, mentors, marketing directors and parents to steer them in a direction of which in the long term sets them up for financial success and security, and in turn our economy will follow. Until these lessons are learnt, the pattern of over spending will continue to rise and our livelihood as we know it will fall.

With Reference to the artefact we can join the dots and see the relevance both the above outlines and the picture portrays. We can see in the picture that the baby is the representation of generation y. The picture portrays that generation y has been nursed into a lifestyle of easy access to money, products and all things they want. The picture supports the argument that gen y has been carried by not only their caregivers down their current path but have also been smothered by advertising and products that are now as easily accessible as the air they breath. The artefact pinpoints the issue in more ways that one. However notably we can see that the advertisement is not only on the infant but is also briefly previewed on the mother. Does this portrayal show that the consumer behaviour of gen y is a learnt behavior? This one interpretation was outlined above and supported by evidence. Personally have looked at all further interpretations most of which are stated above and as a result have learnt so much about the generation that previously I wouldn’t have known. I have learnt to not ‘leave a laying dog lie’ and ask the question ‘Why?’ as apposed to just accepting statements given to me. This picture, argument and the assessment that combined the two will have affect on how I not only see generation y, but also will affect how I accept or more importantly explore further information presented to me in the future. The artefact and argument can be interpreted in many ways however all interpretations do not deny the fact that generation y is consumer obsessed. The artefact and the argument that followed are directly related.

Reference List

McKindle, M (2008). “Understanding Generation Y”. //Australian Leadership Foundation//. []

Patterson, B. (2007). “A-Z of Generation Y”. //Herald Sun//. []

Anonymous. (2010). “Patterns of Generation Y”. //Pew Research Centre.// []

Rapacon, S. (2011) “Investing Lessons for Generation Y”. //Infidelity Investments. []//