Generation X nicknamed “the sandwich” generation has joined the ranks moving into the 55+ club this year into “Reality Bites” senior citizen status.
I’m pointing this out because while I’ve been quite happy going about my life as a GenXer programmed to be blasé about being the most underappreciated, ignored generation in history by mainstream media, advertisers, marketers and even by our own parents growing up as “latch-key kids”…
A very interesting fact is about to surface that can no longer be ignored….
The 50+ age bracket has become the largest age demographic and will be for the next 50 years!
Jennifer Ortman, Division Chief, Population Projections Branch at the U.S. Census Bureau shares, “By 2030, one in five Americans will be 65 years or older”.
By 2050 the senior population will TRIPLE in size!
I might also like to add our antiquated “senior citizen” classification is in need of a MAJOR FACELIFT on how we view “Old Age” and here’s why…
GenXer’s may be the first generation who will easily reach centenarian status in large numbers as “The New 100” age demographic.
As a Lifestyle Expert and Influencer it’s my job to stay ahead of the trends and having seen the proverbial “writing on the wall” now for several years it’s the primary reason why I created my longevity series ‘THE NEW 100 LONGEVITY CAMPAIGN’.
As a GenXer growing up in L.A. in the 80’s, it seemed like everyone was in the entertainment business in one way or another. It was the age of “Totally Tubular” quotes from the teen cult classic “Valley Girls” and “I Want My MTV” and I was in the thick of it.
I made my spending money as a teen with various part-time modeling jobs, dance fashion shows, as an aerobics TV show extra, and my favorite job of all was getting paid to dance on a local TV show called MV3 Hosted by Richard Blade.
Armed with several wardrobe changes we would tape three shows back-to-back every Saturday afternoon dancing on-camera to the latest New Wave music videos. It was the “American Bandstand” dance show for our generation.
New Wave music provided me an everlasting soundtrack of memories and identifiable moments shaping my teenage years intertwined seamlessly into the MTV music videos and John Hughes movies I watched religiously.
(photo credit: Sixteen Candles (1984) Universal Pictures)
Think, the final scene in “Sixteen Candles,” with a Thompson Twins song playing in the background while heartthrob Jake Ryan and Samantha Baker finally get together as he tells her to “Make a wish” as she blows out her birthday candles.
Or the ending in Real Genius; “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”, a classic 80’s GenX song by Tears for Fears;
“Welcome to your life, there’s no turning back….
“Nothing ever lasts forever…everybody wants to rule the world.”
As I listen to these songs now, they still speak to me just as much as they did as a teenager 30 years ago and here’s the point I’m getting at.…
This “A-ha moment” realization made me take a closer look at the 50+ audience of today who differ greatly from the past generations that went before them because they don’t fit into any stereotype.
For example, today’s 50 something often enjoys the same interests as people in their 30’s and could have a very similar marketing profile.
If you haven’t guessed already, I’m very excited to bring awareness to change how we view “Aging” because we are living in an era of agelessness, where aging is being totally redefined and consumer behavior is tribal, not generational.
Host Linda Cooper while filming her show “Travel Time with Linda’
Age is no longer a number, it’s an Attitude and I’m here to gleefully share with all of you as your self-appointed “GenX Poster Girl” that life over 50 is going to be pretty f*%#ing fabulous!
Please allow me to enlighten you by watching my new digital series THE NEW 100 LONGEVITY CAMPAIGN on Flipboard TV and join my “Longevity Campaign”.....
THE FUTURE IS NOW.
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