Generation X Why We Deserve New Branding
a show of hands
anyone born 1946 to 1964.
hello boomers what about birthdays
from 1981 to 1996.
welcome millennials we’re glad you’re
here
anyone born after 1997 to 2010.
hi gen z you are the largest population
clocking in at nearly 90 million people
in the united states and i wish
i had the brain chip that you were born
with
one might say i almost forgot anyone
born
between 1965 and 1980
hey there gen x you’re my peeps
and this talk is for you well i haven’t
forgotten you though it seems that
almost
everyone else has marketers
newscasters advertisers branders and
companies
all seem to ignore or forget about
generation x
they don’t spend money to advertise or
mesmerize us
as a pop culture and media expert and a
two-time emmy-nominated television
producer
i think we are all making a mistake with
ignoring
generation x i think we have been
misunderstood
and have a terrible branding problem
perhaps we need to fire whoever branded
us
okay boomer you’re fired
as a card-carrying member of what time
magazine dubbed in 1990
a generation with few heroes no anthems
and no style to call their own they
called us
the slacker generation in what writer
joy ellen sauder wrote about us just
last year
generation x a complete
embarrassment labels
that have written us off as having no
significance
and no contribution as the who said
people try to put us down we’re talking
about my generation
in 1990 home alone was a box office
success while we all laughed it was true
for many of us
in my generation we were raised home
alone
because of a dual family income or
because we were from families of a
divorce we were the kids
that went home after school with our own
key
let ourselves in and waited for our
parents to come home
we are the latchkey kid who
raised ourselves and probably raised our
siblings too
because only the bradys had an alice at
home
our babysitter was martha quinn after
all in our age group
video killed the radio star and if you
don’t know who martha quinn is
you’re definitely not generation x so
google it
my boyfriend was the fonz but he was
always upstaged by a six million dollar
man
i was so upset that i had to stay home
from school the day that the
bionic woman was set to marry
steve austin but it was thwarted from
her
accident which caused her amnesia and
she didn’t remember him
our worlds were centered around what we
watched
and when we could watch it we learned
that patience is a virtue
while waiting an entire week for the
continuation of our favorite shows
there was no binge watching or streaming
video
and now i don’t want to sound like my
grandfather from the silent generation
born 1926 to 1945.
i had to walk three miles in the snow to
get to school
jackie you should be grateful lecture
gen x had to get off the sofa and walk
to the television
to turn the dial and change the channel
as the remote control did not exist
generation x’s anthem it smells like
teen spirit by the late kurt cobain
that rolling stone called the unwilling
spokesperson for our generation
who broke our spirit when he
unmercilessly shot himself
his best lyrics entertain us
a true statement to our anthem at the
time
born out of our childhood isolation as
we were the audience
that hung out with our friends listened
to music
gathered to be entertained and went to
concerts
we had no internet or instant
information but we had free time and
money in our pockets
oprah was our therapist
we gathered to watch and not take center
stage
the only famous gen xers of our
generation
are actually entertainers perfectly so
the jlos the jennifer anistons the
serena williams and the joe rogans
other than that the reflection of our
childhood the need to be entertained
from a behind the scenes
our leadership is mostly silent yet
not ineffective the latchkey generation
is what i would define
as the unsupervised and forgotten
generation
mostly unseen and definitely not heard
we were the almost generation in so many
ways
on the political front this truth that
generation
x has no voice and is an almost
generation
is also reflected boomers have occupied
the white house for the past 26 years
with a two-candidate boomer run again
even obama is a tail-end boomer while he
seemed young
as a president that was 12 years ago of
an eight-year term
our generation has yet to claim the
throne
as vice presidential candidate kamala
harris checks many necessary boxes like
a bubble scan card
she becomes the other problem our
generation represents
as the almost generation making her
kinda sorta
almost a gen xer not
millennials have taken their seat in
both the house of representatives
and the senate and have campaigned on
the presidential level
even gen z who hasn’t become fully of
age to vote
is staging sit-ins in schools across the
nation for values that don’t align with
the
with their vision of their future
our secret weapon is that we are
underestimated
in my research of our behind the scenes
gen xers
i learned that gen x makes up the
majority of the participation
of the electoral college the electoral
college places the president in the
position over the popular vote
from behind the scenes gen x is still in
politics
even if you don’t know all our names as
an example of the invisible
influence that we wield because
of the cultural influence of our
childhoods and our teen years
we watch we observe
we witness and we integrate
and what we have done for our 50-some
laps around the sun
mine being next week give or take a few
years on either side
we have integrated more technological
leaps
than any other generation and as we
compete for recognition that is
rightfully ours in the laundry list
of almost gen x gets elon musk
the boomers have jeff bezos another
almost gen xer not and the millennials
shoot out mark zuckerberg just as fast
my generation we were the ones who
shifted from the polaroid camera to the
disposable camera
to what a camera in your cell phone
i wondered why would you want a camera
in your cell phone
to me it was like combining the
refrigerator of with the stove
what would be the purpose i know
i should have had a v8 of course you
would call me a late adopter on that one
remember telephones were wired into the
wall with a rotary dial with only one
function when we were kids
that the whole family shared and blasted
a busy signal when the line was being
used
call waiting was a technological
advancement
and as latchkey kids we knew to carry
dimes in our pockets
as pay phones were the only source of
calling our parents when we weren’t home
thus et phone home
as parents now technology is encryptedly
passed on to our children while we
photograph them
in utero making them the natural selfie
nation
we entertained ourselves and entrained
ourselves
through technology making us adaptable
as we updated the gradient levels from
atari
when space invaders was out of this
world to nintendo with the mario
brothers
to playstation and for our love of music
we paid a penny for
albums through columbia records in the
back of parade magazine
and waited for the mail without amazon
prime for several days at least
for our records no our eight tracks
no our cassettes no our
cds there was then there was napster
which was also a real no-no
we lived by the u.s mail and never felt
like we were
only living on a prayer no
instant anything like downloading music
generation x knows how to delay
gratification
resounding again our virtue of patience
and resourcefulness while we waited
we didn’t live by the delete button
having learned a keyboard on a
typewriter
we learned our mistakes are not as easy
to cover up in an instantaneous world
as we had to use white out and wait for
it to dry
as a side note quarantine has got
nothing on us
generation x we’re used to being alone
we know how to entertain ourselves
and being forgotten no problem
we got this while the millennials
and their kids sister gen z duke it out
with our parent generation ok
boomer in the workforce politics and pop
culture
i ask myself where is the voice of my
misbranded generation
generation x the answer suffering middle
child syndrome
or as jan brady said marsha marcia
marcia
even the little mermaid released in 1989
during our late teenage years
the only disney princess movie of our
teen decade
ariel the main character loses her voice
coincidence i think not
even though this behind the scenes
middle child
almost forgotten latch key slacker
generation of mine
ours produces one third of the nation’s
income in spite of representing only
a quarter of the whole population
yes we are small yes we are mighty
and yes we have money so why do we
generation x have such poor branding
reality does bite and we bite back
we were told one thing as a generation
yet our experience was completely
another
we were called the slacker generation
the truth
we came of a of working age during three
recessions one
when most of us were graduating college
and entering the job market
two the forgotten about tech bubble bust
in 2000
when many of us were starting families
and three
the housing crash of 2008 smack dab
during our careers and of course
we are on a joy ride right now to be
determined
as our retirement accounts hang in the
balance
our repetitive economic traumas along
with our personal traumas
that can be identified with our great
grandparents through the great
depression but rarely acknowledged in
our own
answer-marching way of getting on with
things born out of our latchkey
kids style of survival we were taught to
consume
as we were living in a material world
truth
we are living the consequences of over
consumption
we were told we could do anything truth
yo
adrian just don’t hit your head on the
glass ceiling on the way up
told one thing sold another work hard
play hard when it came to coming of age
our moms got the pill and we got aids
sex wasn’t freedom it meant death
while a liberated mother screamed
equality we learned
duplicity we were equally as quiet at
work while we endured a culture that was
not meant to be endured and no longer
tolerated today
reality was just another lap around the
hamster wheel of look over there
not over here and when we
finally got sick and tired of being sick
and tired
and tired of sick we screamed me too
here is the truth about generation x
sandwiched between attention-grabbing
millennials and competitive boomers
we learned discernment dependability
and diplomacy making our generation the
best managers in the workforce
adaptable to changing worlds and
changing systems
we have patience to teach because we
have always been learning
our latchkey isolated childhoods taught
our generation
patience resourcefulness and
ingenuity we are funny
thank you beavis and butthead and
laverne and shirley
we have a good bs detector thank you
millie vanilli
and we’re not afraid to get dirty
because we actually played outside
and we know how to have a good time
the unifying generation is a much better
brand
after all we had live aid we know how to
come together
and coexist to solve the world’s
problems
and we are entrepreneurial enough to do
it there isn’t a gen xer who didn’t
babysit
shovel snow rake leaves deliver
newspapers lifeguard or wash
cars for extra cash
gen xers it is our time to declare
a new brand and a new narrative
that describes our generation and it is
also
the time for us to be seen and heard
even if we still don’t like our picture
to be taken we are shape-shifting from
the visible generation
to the from the invisible generation to
the visible generation
the story put upon us as the anti-anthem
anthem slacker is wrong the don’t care
generation
who has integrated multiple upgrades is
actually
the unifying generation
from smells like teams teen spirit to
aya the tiger
we know how to rise up back on our feet
again
generation x is independent
influential innovative
and integrative we are most exceptional
essential and excellent
thank you bill and ted the story of gen
x is not over
we need a rebrand and of course we’ll
have to do it ourselves
like we do everything else as joseph
campbell describes in the reluctant hero
more han solo less like luke skywalker
like john mcclane and diehard the one
who doesn’t want to
take the call unless he has to it is now
our time to take our call
rise and shine be seen and be heard
this is our invitation to our
declaration
of the unifying generation because what
the world
needs now is love sweet love
and we have it to give from behind the
scenes we will take our seat now front
and center
as simple mind sings don’t you forget
about me
you