“Gen X” was popularized as an
advertising term. Marketers used the label to describe the young people
of the late ‘80s. The focus was on how to sell goods to the MTV
generation.
Advertisements at
that time, just as one example, started to feature unmarried couples to
appeal to this group of consumers. This was a first and in the early
‘90s it was pushing the envelope. It apparently resonated. The
advertisers gauged correctly: They successfully sold their products to
Americans with the now documented lowest marriage rate in history.
The
argument could be made (mainly by those who want to take us back to a
mythical innocent time of the supposedly recent past) that it’s
advertisers who’ve corrupted our culture and changed what’s socially
acceptable through their manipulations. Or, if you have sold your
proverbial soul to the gods of unfettered commerce – like the rightwing
self-described Culture Warriors, or the (formerly) Moral (former)
Majority – advertisements are the market speaking for the greater
culture at large. And the greater culture, funny enough, largely
disagrees with the right-wing. READ MORE
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