Baby boomers, the influential generation with the largest enrollment among Americans, has long been at the forefront of cultural trends. Now its members are at the cusp of yet another movement, this
one among marketers who are discovering that aging boomers make a tantalizing target group. Finally, after years of courting the coveted youth market and essentially ignoring people over 40, a range
of advertisers are actively seeking boomers' business. The list includes food makers, fitness salons and clothing retailers, and automakers like Toyota--which is currently running an ad that tells
parents that life begins anew once they drop off their kids at college. "All of a sudden, corporate America is waking up to what's going on," said David Wolfe, a prominent marketing consultant and
author who follows generational themes in advertising. AARP, the advocacy group for people 50 and up, said it posted a 21 percent increase in advertising revenue for its AARP magazine for the first
three months of the year, compared with an industry average of 0.4 percent. Among its new advertisers are cosmetics companies, including L'Oreal, Lancome, Vital Radiance, and Aveeno. "A couple years
ago we had nobody advertising beauty products in the magazine," said Jim Fishman, group publisher for AARP publications.
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