When living with mom feels like living with mother-in law, you’re going through inter-generational tension.
Last week, I shared examples of 2 inter-generational tensions, today, we look at the last 3.
- Child is the father of man
- our children surprise us with their smarts
- Boooooring and obvious
- Silent and Boomers habitually postpone gratification.
- Millennials and Gen X are the troubled middle child
Tension#3 Child is the father of man
Since society has decided that ‘moms rule the kitchen and dads make all the money decisions,’ this tension is the masculine side of the kitchen tension from last week.
It’s straight forward. Children introduce their dads to smarter, new-age choices.
It’s also a done-to-death tension.
That’s why the two examples I found are unsurprising and did not teach me anything new.
Dear readers, take these two as examples of what not to do.
3.1 Our children surprise us with their smarts
Ultra cement takes the obvious angle of a dad underestimating his son and the son surprising dad with his wisdom.
3.2 Boooooring and obvious
This is even more obvious.
A smart daughter tells her dad to buy a ‘new age’ (naya zamana) insurance to go with the new age car (an EV).
Yes, you’ve convinced me.
The money this client spent on celebrities should have been spent on a better agency.
Now, 2 complex tensions that remain untapped by brands.
Tension #4 Silent and Boomers habitually postpone gratification
My sister sent over homemade jams – orange marmalade and strawberry jam.
The marmalade was tastier.
So, my mom is ‘saving’ the marmalade.
Each morning, the jam appears on the breakfast table, while the marmalade is tucked away at the back of the cupboard.
Boomers and the Silent generation grew up in scarcity. So, postponing gratification, hoarding, and guilt is ingrained into their psyche.
Even though they are better off today, they struggle to unlearn their habit of delaying consumption.
This Youtube short is another example of what this looks like.
4.1 slice of life advertising
Swiggy has shown this generation in a slice of life advertising.
‘Gulab Jamun uncle’ is a fresh, tongue-in-cheek take on a Boomer ordering in and consuming ‘shamelessly’
4.2 overcoming guilt
This Ogilvy SBI ad is the only one that scrapes the surface of this tension.
It shows a silent generation couple overcoming guilt and enjoying themselves.
Why? Because they had the foresight to buy insurance.
This space is still under leveraged by brands.
One way brands could appropriate it is by reframing consumption as something good instead of something weighed down with guilt.
For instance, a mother-in-law I know ignores the organic vegetables her daughter-in-law orders and insists on ordering separate non-organic grocery for herself. Would she listen if a brad told her that when she stays healthier by consuming high quality food, she is in fact helping her kids?
On the other hand, while her grand parents deny themselves, my niece, who is Gen Z, does not know what it means to ‘save’ things for later… there’s always more where it came from.
I, on the other hand, see-saw constantly between YOLO (you only live once) consumption highs and SNORL (save now or repent later) denial lows.
Therein lies a real pulsing tension in modern india – grand parents over sacrifice, grand kids over consume while Millenials/Gen X balance this parents vs. progeny consumption drama.
Millennials/Gen X are the stressed middle child in this multi-generational hot pot.
Here’s why.
Tension #5 Millennials and Gen X have become the troubled middle child
Gen X and some Millennials grew up in a pre-liberalisation India and watched their parents save, conserve, and deny themselves.
They internalised the same values, worked hard and saved.
They slowly learnt to consume because of two consumption revolutions. Once when western powers (Coca Cola, McDonalds, Facebook, Google and Apple), entered India. And the second time when native digital innovations, (Jio, UPI, affordable smartphones, and D2C) turbocharged a second consumption economy1.
They have built their consumption muscle slowly and steadily over 25+ years, along with their bank balance.2
They feel secure now.
And the training wheels have come off.
Not only do they want to give their kids a ‘better’ childhood—one free from the constraints they grew up with, they are also tasting guilt-free abundance themselves.
I would love to see some brands tackle this juicy and complex insight space.
Any ideas?
1
https://www.campaignindia.in/article/gen-x-the-original-harbingers-of-change/495010
[I have written about Indians being cash-poor earlier, that’s why there is a distinct India 1 bias in this treatise, because I share what I observe and discuss with experts.] I write about a cash-poor India in The India Playbook. But since this edition comes from my lived experience, I am unable to bring in the perspective of the balance 80% of India. If any reader has access to research, data on the rest of India with this inter-generational lens, I would be grateful if you could point me there.