Being branded 'Gen Z' sucks.

In her recent article for the Guardian, Maddie Thomas wrote what many older Gen-Zers like myself are thinking: why are we being pigeonholed into the category of Gen Z when many of the life challenges we face are actually the same as many adults aged between 25-35 (also known as Millennials)? And she’s right. If we look at the label, you’ll see that Gen Z describes the demographic of people born between 1997-2012. So, this means that 25-year-olds are bundled into the same category as 10-year-olds. Respectfully, who signed off on that?

In Gen Z’s Favourite Brands 2022 report (Morning Consult), which surveyed 18-25’s to ‘highlight the top 20 brands most popular among Gen Z Adults’, it’s important to note that they didn’t poll the younger half of the category. And that’s likely because this broader data pool would only have further muddied these already muddy waters. There is, for instance, no way someone born in 2011 likes (or has even heard of?) the Cash app, whereas many 25-year-olds probably love it.

Even on a personal level, a similar point applies. When I was 10 my mum was buying me clothes in Debenhams, and I loved playing with my Hot Wheels. Since then, Debenhams has gone bust and, while Hot Wheels are still objectively awesome, I likely wouldn’t list them as a favourite brand of mine. There is little point comparing the brand preferences of 10-year-old me, with 23-year-old me.

As I write this, two members of Gen Z (both born in 2005) are doing work experience with us at Heavenly. They’ve been tasked with researching how their favourite brands advertise on TikTok. I haven’t even heard of some of them. I suspect, too, they won’t have heard of some of the brands that people born in 2011 like either. Basically, this whole generational segmentation thing is not only inaccurate, but also often wildly unhelpful.

Don’t get me wrong, I do get it. It’s a simple way to categorise people into (very) broadly similar audience groups, and sometimes it works. I also realise that an alternative solution, let’s say segments banded by 10-year age groups, is an equally arbitrary categorisation. Either way, segmentation like this is far too broad and doesn’t account for personal, behavioural, geographical, or other anthropological nuances. I recently saw an article that said Gen Z are obsessed with clowns… are we? And this is the same for many categorisations, by the way. As David Boyle explained, even the term ‘gamer’ is vague platitude.

With all of this in mind, however, I should probably clarify one thing. I will 100% continue to use this method of categorisation: 1) because it’s a buzzword – and who doesn’t love a buzzword; 2) because it’s easier (lazier), and; 3) because I don’t have anything better to suggest. I just wanted to put it here – on record – that I really don’t like it.