Boomers & lamb chops – don’t lump them all onto the same stereotyped BBQ plate
Sue Parker says the latest Meat & Livestock Australia lamb campaign The Generation Gap has a brilliant message but missed a real opportunity to squash stereotypes.
Delicious clever humour is a brilliant tool to communicate important messages and strengthen brands. So I loved the concept of Meat & Livestock Australia’s 2024 lamb campaign ‘The Generation Gap’ to take the piss out of the generations.
Aussies are brilliant at rapid fire quips and satire to poke fun at ourselves. The ad had many cracker one liners which, as per The Castle’s Darryl Kerrigan, ‘can go straight to the poolroom’.
And, I could not love more the campaign tenets of unity, squashing division and the reality of common ground across the ages. Australia desperately needs a feel-good nudge to bring greater understanding of each other.
As Graeme Yardy from MLA shared with Mumbrella “Pop culture would have us believe that the generations are practically different species, but in reality, there’s far more that unites than separates us, and that’s what this year’s Summer Lamb campaign is all about”.
As an anti-ageism career advocate, I champion any opportunity to debunk generation stereotypes.
But the visual and implied representations of the Boomer generation (60 to 78 years) was off the mark and annoying. And representation of the latter end of Generation X (44 to 59 years) was pretty much ignored.
A real opportunity was missed on the BBQ to squash ageism stereotypes despite really good and well spirited intentions.
Boomers were portrayed physically, behaviourally and in lifestyle orientations akin to the Silent Generation (79 – 96 years). And whilst the creative strategy would have been to differentiate generations broadly for quick uptake, the execution embeds the very stereotypes they wanted to parody.
I really do get the humour, but grimace at the patronising and inaccurate representation of the over 50 and 60 cohort.
It is also problematic for careers and workplaces holding media-fuelled perceptions that people in their 50’s and 60’s are incompetent, retiring, grey haired garden dwellers or out of touch.
Every chop is different
Everyone likes their lamb chops (unless they are vegetarians) cooked a particular way with different preferences for accompaniments. This week on Nine’s Today, Sam Kekovich lambasted the use of mint sauce with his lamb. No way does mint go with lamb he chortled.
I’m tipping not everyone in the Boomer generation feels the same way about the humble mint sauce. Nor do all Millennials, Z and X generations have linear tastes.
And that is the whole point of silly stereotypes. You just cannot apportion an age range to choices, appearances, attitudes, behaviours and lifestyles.
Come on media
The portrayal in media of all people over 55 as being dottery, out of touch, sedentary and rushing to retirement villages is illogical and pervasive. Media as a sector is well entrenched in its ageist attitudes to hiring staff over 55 and marketing in general. So, it’s disturbing the sector keeps the flame alive in portraying the generations with subtle, and not so subtle biases and inaccuracies.
Now, this campaign is not a martyr. Another example was last years LinkedIn series of B2B video campaigns. The message was that parents of adult working children have no clue about the work they do and that B2B is an alien language to them.
Depicting all parents of adult children as being morons, over 75 and totally devoid of any business nous was patronising and absurd. Not funny at all Jan!
Feedback from experts
Dr Natasha Ginnivan, Ageing Researcher at University NSW has spent over a decade researching the impact of ageism. She felt the MLA campaign held real potential for recognising shared similarities and preferences across different age groups if it were not for the usual tired old ‘generational stereotypes’ shown at the beginning of the ad.
Dr Ginnivan shares an appreciation of the humorous take on generational differences. She was concerned the media portrayal painted older people as being entitled and mostly ‘well off’ (i.e. the realtor casually handing the speed walking older woman keys to a house on her morning walk). Or, they were portrayed as being senile and imbecilic (i.e. the older man on a bicycle and speed-walking older woman not realising their phone torch was still on).
“Realistic representations of older people in the media are rare, and when older people are portrayed, it is typically as a senile, zany or uncool seniors who can’t operate their iPhone or download apps. Sure, there are differences between age groups and life stages, but oversimplified stereotypes are unhelpful in cultivating positive self-perceptions of ageing.”
She felt that younger people did not escape being stereotyped either and were shown as out of touch with reality. Unfortunately, portraying individuals in overstated stereotypical ways only fuels the perceived divide between age groups.
Dr Ginnivan says the consequences of such stereotypes for younger people is concerning. The mental representations of what it’s like to be ‘old’ derived from such commercials impacts their own psychology and sense of self as they transition into their later years
Susan Bell, of Susan Bell Research specialises in consumer, behavioural & cultural insights for the 55+ market. She shared her concerns:
“If the campaign referred specifically to people 75 and older, it does a great job. It shows people in their mid 70s and over being fit, active and friendly, while avoiding some of the lonely and sedentary depictions that are common in the media.
The problem is that the ad tells us that it is about Boomers from 60 years. From our research conducted in Australia I know many people in their 60’s will either feel offended or invisible after they have seen this campaign. It’s insulting and patronising for people in their 60’s (who are most often in the workforce), to be grouped alongside people in their 80’s who are behaving in ways that only much older people behave.
Not everyone in their 60’s feels the same way of course. The ad will make some people in their 60s simply feel invisible, assuming that they have been deliberately excluded from the campaign.”
Global advertising and diversity powerhouse, Cindy Gallop, was also not impressed. She shared:
“I honestly don’t know where to start with this ad. It isn’t just ageist to Boomers, it’s ageist to every other generation as well.
“I find it really bizarre that a strong trade association brand would perpetuate an out-moded, stereotyped model of divisiveness for a message about Australian unification. A far better demonstration would have been to actively challenge those stereotypes by flipping them on their head.
“Show how aspirational older people are, because we’ve reached the stage in life where we don’t give a shit what anybody else thinks. Show the wisdom of Gen Z bringing fresh perspectives to things that have been taken for granted. Show millennials enjoying the work-life balance they were the first to campaign for. Show Gen X reaping the benefits of being the first generation to grow up with computers.
“And celebrate the fact that there is no generation gap, because everybody is Generation Lamb.”
The pressure valve
Like Cindy Gallop, I am turning 64 this year and embrace all generations. I also love lamb with mint sauce.
The world is in a shit place right now and any humour is great to relieve the pressure valve.
But, I also know the impact of ageism in workplaces and careers and how subtle misrepresentations cause harm. We are more similar than we think if we just open our hearts as the campaign shares.
But can we do better to eradicate ageism and stereotypes with better representation of generations which will bring us further together? Bloody oath we can!
Sue Parker is the owner of DARE Group Australia – a communications, LinkedIn and career branding specialist
