I promised a lowlight from a study predicting the future of boomers twenty years hence. Reviewing my notes, I realized that the lowlight was actually in a presentation that was part of a sneak preview of the study—and may not actually have made it into the study, itself.
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The futurist at the podium was making the excellent point that when it comes to boomers, the life stages are being reshuffled.
His point: that as we look towards the future, boomers will increasingly be defying the “natural” progressions of aging (my words). So that, for instance, at an age when a man would normally be grandparenting, he may well be, instead, fathering and parenting his own young child. So far so good.
But the example the presenter actually used was a 40-ish frumpy, dumpy gal who underwent an Extreme Makeover (literally, on the TV show) and emerged a much younger-looking vamp.
Puleeze! The futurists (there were actually two of them) then crowed about how much this increased her social currency as she was now being hit on by men in their 20’s and 30’s. Double Puleeze!
First of all, most of us don’t look as frumpy as this gal did, even “before” whatever it is we do for/to ourselves. In fact, at the panel on Marketing to Boomer Women I led earlier in the day, I had to agree with Jane Glenn Haas of Woman Sage, who looked out at the well turned-our audience, including many boomer women, and commented: “We don’t strive to look young. We just want to look good.” (Nods all around.)
Secondly, there’s a name for older women who are trying to attract 20 somethings. They’re called Cougars. And I have to believe that they’re the radical exception. Especially if we’re projecting out twenty years, at which time the leading edge of boomers will be 82! If they’re still lusting for 20 somethings (and if plastic surgery advances can do the trick) at 82, I say that the title Cougar isn’t half as fierce enough a descriptor.
Carol Orsborn