A recent project at 501creative reminded me how resistant we are to labels. We are working with an organization that provides volunteer, fitness and learning opportunities for adults over 65. The organization, Oasis, has a generic name that needs some supporting messaging to explain who the organization serves.
We all thought...65 and over, aren't those seniors? Guess what, no one in that age group likes the name senior.
Millennials hate being called millennials. Seniors hate senior. No one likes a label, mostly because older or younger generations use those labels to disparage. Once someone refers to you as a label, you want to dispute that label. How dare someone define me so easily and rapidly?
I am a GenXer. We are the angry, sullen put-upon middle child of generational labels. We never get the attention we think we deserve. And yet that is not more true than the lazy, needy millennial.
Every generation below us is doing it wrong. Every generation above us screwed it all up somehow.
Labels are lazy, useless and just plain wrong. Labels are usually not accurate, rob us of our humanity and complexity, and are usually used to belittle others to make us feel better about ourselves.
So how do we say senior without saying senior? Older adult? Retired person?
Let's think in outcomes. What do we want to have happen? For Oasis, we added the words, Lifelong Adventure as a tagline. We pitched the line, "It is your time for a lifelong adventure." Ad copy talks about enjoying life after kids are grown and work is done. This says, hey you are a senior, instead of saying senior or older adult (words guaranteed to make someone in that generation bristle).
Be wary of appealing to specific generational audiences and appeal to outcomes. What do people want? How can you help them achieve that? What values do you share? Ditching labels and treating people as human beings is the first step to building stronger relationships.
Other labels are not helpful too. Cougar is one that comes to mind. It is predatory and assumes older women are desperate to stay relevant and overly-needy. Men who date younger women have no label.
Helicopter parent. Militant. Poor. Slut. Crazy. Plus-sized. None of these labels accurately describe someone and even worse, compound already sexist, racist and classist ideas in our society.
Stop trying to appeal to millennials or baby boomers. Try appealing to what people want out of their lives and how your organization can help them achieve that.
