# "Damn it! Pander to us!" say Boomers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 19, 2006, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-it-pander-to-us-say-boomers/381051 "2006-11-19T18:19:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-it-pander-to-us-say-boomers/381051/1 "2006-11-19T18:19:19Z")
Interesting article [here](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061119/ap_en_tv/tv_youth_obsession). Apparently, Boomers, who are used to being pandered to for their youth, are pissed because we’re not being pandered to now that we’re no longer young. 😃 I’m 51, so I’m smack dab in the middle of the Baby Boom bell curve, but I think this is funny as hell. OTOH, it has definitely not escaped my notice that I watch less and less TV with every passing year – because less and less of it appeals to me with every passing year. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-it-pander-to-us-say-boomers/381051/2 "2006-11-19T18:40:32Z")
Interesting article. I haven’t noticed that TV panders to younger people, but I have noticed that TV programs have very few “ordinary” people. Maybe that’s why I like Earl and The Office – the actors aren’t all slim and gorgeous and sex-crazed. Actually, if I were a teenager, I don’t know what I’d be watching. Are The OC and Dawson’s Creek still on? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-it-pander-to-us-say-boomers/381051/3 "2006-11-19T19:31:47Z")
TV definitely panders to young people. Because they’re the ones that are affected most by advertising. There have been shows with very good ratings that have been cancelled simply because their audience was too old, such as Green Acres and Hee-Haw. And plenty of shows survive with only mediocre ratings, because their audience is young. As for what the Boomers want, I’d say that they’ve been catered to plenty. As in, they’ve dominated the culture during my entire life. Now they can go knit afghans and let the rest of us have a chance at our own culture (actually, I’m on the tail end of the baby boom, having been born in 1963. But I don’t feel like one, because I just barely missed the hippie era, Vietnam, and other boomer-bonding events) ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-it-pander-to-us-say-boomers/381051/4 "2006-11-19T20:18:36Z")
Hi Sam, I was also born in '63 and I agree with you. You and I are Tweeners, we’re not Boomers or Gen X’ers. A Tweener is roughly someone who doesn’t remember the JFK assassination but does remember Watergate. We better be prepared to take care of ourselves because we’re going to get fucked on both ends. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-it-pander-to-us-say-boomers/381051/5 "2006-11-19T20:44:02Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] I’m 51, so I’m smack dab in the middle of the Baby Boom bell curve, but I think this is funny as hell. [/QUOTE] I’m 24, but I also think this is funny as hell. Pop culture has catered to the Boomers for a long time - I think it’s stunted the music industry in particular - and now some of them don’t want to let go. Too bad, says I. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-it-pander-to-us-say-boomers/381051/6 "2006-11-19T20:52:40Z")
What a strange article. A piece of advice for people who can’t relate to TV: Don’t watch so much. I watch football, the daily show and a few other things. I thought those ubiquitous crime dramas skewed older anyway. I was born in '62, so I’m in the same cohort as **Sam** and **hajirio**. Like them I don’t identify with the boomers all that much, though I have some older friends. I always heard us called “cuspers.” ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-it-pander-to-us-say-boomers/381051/7 "2006-11-19T22:07:13Z")
My dad is in his sixties and for the last decade or so he’s been complaining that commercials and movies are no longer targeted at him. I laugh, because they were for several decades of his life. Whereas I, as a woman, have spent my whole lifetime watching shows and movies and commercials targeted at men. How many pairs of knockers have I had waved in my face to get me to buy a car? Surely a staggering number. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-it-pander-to-us-say-boomers/381051/8 "2006-11-19T23:20:21Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] I’m 24, but I also think this is funny as hell. Pop culture has catered to the Boomers for a long time - I think it’s stunted the music industry in particular - and now some of them don’t want to let go. Too bad, says I. [/QUOTE] Or, to put it bluntly, payback’s a bitch, ain’t it? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-it-pander-to-us-say-boomers/381051/9 "2006-11-19T23:39:28Z")
[QUOTE=hajario] Hi Sam, I was also born in '63 and I agree with you. You and I are Tweeners, we’re not Boomers or Gen X’ers. A Tweener is roughly someone who doesn’t remember the JFK assassination but does remember Watergate. We better be prepared to take care of ourselves because we’re going to get fucked on both ends. [/QUOTE] Tell me about it. :rolleyes: Jobs, Social Security…optimism…we’re boned. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-it-pander-to-us-say-boomers/381051/10 "2006-11-20T00:06:42Z")
Basically, the ad business is based on the assumption that the most desirable consumers are people 20-50. These are the demographics advertisers want, and most advertising goes for that demographic. One belief in advertising is that if you get someone young, then they stick with your product for life, and that those over 50 have decided which brands they want to buy, so it’s a waste of money going after them. However, there have been studies that those 50 and older are perfectly willing to change brands if given a reason to (though, I suppose the reason might have something to do with quality and price rather than, “Gee that looks kewl.”) The ad biz, however is tightly connected with the assumption that the only audience worth going for is that under 50, and no amount of reality and studies are going to change this belief. Personally, I’m over 50 and I don’t really care. Quality is quality, no matter what the age of the actors. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-it-pander-to-us-say-boomers/381051/11 "2006-11-20T00:17:05Z")
[QUOTE=bluethree] I, as a woman, have spent my whole lifetime watching shows and movies and commercials targeted at men. How many pairs of knockers have I had waved in my face to get me to buy a car? [/QUOTE] They weren’t _trying_ to get _you_ to buy a car. As far as car makers and dealers are concerned, you don’t exist and your money is worthless. Your dad is now learning slowly what that feels like. ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-it-pander-to-us-say-boomers/381051/12 "2006-11-20T01:01:26Z")
Hm. I saw the TV show _American Dreams_, set in the 1960s and revolving around iconic moments in that timeframe, and I thought, “Oh great, decades later, the world still revolves around the boomers.” ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-it-pander-to-us-say-boomers/381051/13 "2006-11-20T01:05:39Z")
[QUOTE=bluethree] How many pairs of knockers have I had waved in my face to get me to buy a car? Surely a staggering number. [/QUOTE] … I’m shopping at the wrong car dealers, aren’t I? ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-it-pander-to-us-say-boomers/381051/14 "2006-11-20T01:26:21Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] Basically, the ad business is based on the assumption that the most desirable consumers are people 20-50. These are the demographics advertisers want, and most advertising goes for that demographic. One belief in advertising is that if you get someone young, then they stick with your product for life, and that those over 50 have decided which brands they want to buy, so it’s a waste of money going after them. However, there have been studies that those 50 and older are perfectly willing to change brands if given a reason to (though, I suppose the reason might have something to do with quality and price rather than, “Gee that looks kewl.”) The ad biz, however is tightly connected with the assumption that the only audience worth going for is that under 50, and no amount of reality and studies are going to change this belief. Personally, I’m over 50 and I don’t really care. Quality is quality, no matter what the age of the actors. [/QUOTE] Or, as “The Simpsons” put it: > [@](#): > > Grandpa: “I’m an old man, no one listens to me.” > Lisa: “I’m a young girl, no one listens to me.” > Homer: “I’m a white male aged 18 to 49, everyone listens to me, no matter how dumb my suggestions are.” > He then goes to the cabinet and takes out a can of food titled, “Nuts and Gum.” ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-it-pander-to-us-say-boomers/381051/15 "2006-11-20T01:35:17Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] They weren’t _trying_ to get _you_ to buy a car. As far as car makers and dealers are concerned, you don’t exist and your money is worthless. Your dad is now learning slowly what that feels like. [/QUOTE] You’re exactly right. I admit you phrased it better than I did. Still, I can’t help but get some enjoyment out of my dad’s suddenly not being the center of an advertiser’s universe anymore. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-it-pander-to-us-say-boomers/381051/16 "2006-11-20T01:39:44Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] Personally, I’m over 50 and I don’t really care. Quality is quality, no matter what the age of the actors. [/QUOTE] I agree, but sometimes I wonder if the talent-vs-attractiveness ratio in the average celebrity has steadily declined through the years. It seems to me that twenty years ago, there weren’t that many people who were famous for being famous, like Paris Hilton is today. Maybe I’m just romanticizing the past. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-it-pander-to-us-say-boomers/381051/17 "2006-11-20T01:41:13Z")
[QUOTE=monstro] It seems to me that twenty years ago, there weren’t that many people who were famous for being famous, like Paris Hilton is today. Maybe I’m just romanticizing the past. [/QUOTE] Zsa-Zsa Gabor? Maybe a little too long ago. Pia Zadora? ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-it-pander-to-us-say-boomers/381051/18 "2006-11-20T01:42:33Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] I have noticed that TV programs have very few “ordinary” people. Maybe that’s why I like Earl and The Office – the actors aren’t all slim and gorgeous and sex-crazed. [/QUOTE] I resent your statement. I’m slim and gorgeous and sex-crazed, and I am completely real and ordinary. ---
**Author:** ![lokij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@lokij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lokij)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-it-pander-to-us-say-boomers/381051/19 "2006-11-20T07:39:03Z")
You know it’s funny, I just talked with some buddies of mine and commented that I had never been much for television, untill recently. Shows like Serenity, Battlestar Galactica, Hero, My Name is Earl, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, The Office, (untill recently IMO) Lost, ect. are all worth watching and we were trying to figure out why. We decided it was because finally, FINALLY our generation was getting to be the writers and producers of mainstream content, as well as old enough to be targets for advertisers. I’ll be 30 next year. It strikes me that now, in an age of unprecedented choice in entertainment (200 channel cable and satelite, internet, direct to DVD releases), any whining from boomers about how uncatered to they are comes off to me as the worst kind of sour grapes. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-it-pander-to-us-say-boomers/381051/20 "2006-11-20T15:14:39Z")
:::holding hands forward at eye level and waving fingers while staring hypnotically::: [creepy voice]“We are the baby boomers! Pander to us! Pander to us! You can’t help yourselves, pander to us!” [/creepy voice] Wait’ll you see the kewl koffins boomers get buried in. You tweeners will NEVER rate that kind of coffin. Never! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-it-pander-to-us-say-boomers/381051.md?page=2)