This quote for Alex Rosenwald's recent article resonated with me,
The people can just ignore the news, but pop culture is everywhere. For the younger generation, who grew up with nothing but pop culture, there is, in fact, no other worldview.
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Somehow I got added to a daily e-mail service (maybe it's a Newsmax thing) that puts out the jokes from the previous nights late night shows. The jokes have been overwhelming political and overwhelmingly at the expense of the conservative candidates. Okay, so I laugh. I figure you have to be able to laugh -- even at your team. At some point though it becomes clear that the humor is the very definition of cynical (Greek root "dog like" -- look it up).
The late night comedians are like a pack of domesticated dogs gone feral. If they were a pack of dogs on the prowl in my old rural neighborhood we'd just shoot 'em. Can't do that in this case. Can't even apply Kim Du Toit's prescription of "Rope, Tree, Journalist -- some assembly required." At some point the laughing at oneself and one's team grows thin as the underlying meanness of the cynical humor wears through. Hey, Letterman! It's December! It's almost a month since the Election. Got anything besides McCain Old Age jokes or Sarah Palin Geography snides?
That brings me to the title of this post...
As I talk w/ extended circle of friends and acquaintances "post election," it's clear the Zogby polls showing ignorance of voters is very real. Truely, they seem to have formed their political conclusions based on Late Night jokes, FM shock jocks and Youtube videos.
Most people won't read a complete paragraph or listen in depth to commentary or debate on radio/TV. This is especially true among the "Millenials."
The Millenial Generation's media is not our media. We have a message they need to hear. We need to consider our audience and communicate in forms and mediums that they will hear. Their attention span shortness is legendary. We're not going to change that. We need to deal with it.
My kids almost never check e-mail (that's so 90's). They only occasionally answer their cell phones. They'll usually check their Facebook in the evening. They ALWAYS answer a text message (it seems to be a compulsion).
So rolling with that trend leads to the question of the day, "Are Twitter type comm's part of the answer for 'influencers to get more traction/the attention of the clued out/clueless?'" Is it time to twitter?
2 comments:
As a Generation Yer myself as well as a Generation Y Consultant, your questions and concerns are very real. I agree with your point that Generation Y has their own way of communicating but to describe them as clueless is relatively short sited. WE are not clueless but changing the way communications are conducted. It is important to remember that if media is to change there are going to be growing pains.
Don't think I described Millenials et al as clueless. I scanned my post 2, 3 times. In caffiene deficit at the moment so may have missed it.
Maybe "clueless" showed up in the article I linked to...
As with any generalization it misses the mark for many -- but back to point of the post,
"How to better engage the minds of a people (generation)?"
If I were to use the word "clueless" it would only be fair to apply it a broad cross section of the nation in all age groups (at least some portion of 52%?). /heh
Sorta sounds condescending I s'pose but I'm just sayin' based on polls and man on the street type interviews we've probably all seen.
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