• by John Gaffney , June 10, 2002

If you thought the Baby Boomer generation was born to money, sipping scotch and thinking only about the plan for earning the next million, think again.

A new report from ReFirement research shows that the current crop of 38- 56-year-olds worked hard for the money and is more concerned with ways to be charitable and better ways to fit into society. According to ReFirement founder Dr. James Gambone, the media has focused on the 25% of the boomer generation who grew up in middle to upper class families whose parents had a college education. They have ignored the 75 percent of the generation (about 57 million) grew up poor, working class or whose families ran a small business or family farm. Media plans, he says, should take the real picture into of the entire generation into account.

“More than 90% of the 57 million people in this demographic come from poor or working class backgrounds,” Gambone says. “I think ad campaigns need to consider that most people of this generation are looking deeply into their lives. Their two core values are giving back and belonging.”

Gambone believes that ad agencies should conduct more research on how this group plans to deal with these factors. By mid-life, he says, most people have faced a personal crisis that has touched them, such as Sept. 11. This is a change that has gone unexplored and unaddressed in the ad world. “Understanding where we came from and the strength of our core values is key to how we confront and interpret the significant events and crossroads of mid-life,” the report states.

Getting to this generation hasn’t changed, according to Gambone. “This group is dramatically influenced by TV and will continue to be,” he says. “You’re also looking at the best educated generation in American history, so print publications should still be effective as well.”

In fact, Gambone believes that the current fascination with biography, whether it’s Behind The Music, John Adams or on A&E, reflects the current trend of examining ones own life.

“So far the media has focused its advertising and marketing on the 25 percent of this group who are affluent, white collar and professional,” Gambone says.

The new Report involved eight years of conducting intergenerational dialogues and discussions nationally and internationally with over 1,500 diverse men and women born between 1945 and 1963. Gambone also re-interpreted existing census data that had been publicly available, but overlooked by researchers for over 25 years.

The report and an executive summary is available at www.refirement.com.