Classic toothpaste brand Colgate is one of these companies. This week, the brand launched CO. by Colgate, a new oral care collection aimed at Gen Z. Using the empowering, self-care language that has come to dominate beauty marketing, the new collection is described as one that “transforms the simple act of brushing your teeth into a ritual for feeling good”. Read more Read more (Dazed)
Category Archives: generations
Japan Inc. should use COVID-19 to end excessive formality
Extreme formality runs deep in Japanese business culture, stifling employees’ sense of ownership and suppressing innovation. Unexpectedly, the COVID-19 pandemic offers a chance to disrupt such staid traditions. Excessive formality hurts companies in three ways. First, it discourages young minds from voicing their opinions. With the business environment shifting so quickly, and the maturity curve of wisdom being flattened — if not reversed — businesses only suffer by being deaf to younger voices. Read more (Nikkei Asia)
The pandemic has changed the shape of global happiness
The old have become happier and the young more miserable Read more (Economist – Paywall)
There is a saying in Japan: “When rules exist, they have to be obeyed.” (Cultural Knowns and Unknowns)
“In Japan, people have an impression that when someone stands out, they will be targeted or bullied,” she said. “So people learn not to stand out, and young people see this as a survival method. Teachers talk about individuality, and yet people’s uniqueness is crushed.” In corporate Japan, that in turn creates an atmosphere in which people are often scared to speak out, particularly in meetings, and especially if they are women, Oshima and Nozu said. Read more (Washington Post)
Mapping Knowns and Unknowns
Teddy Girls: The Style Subculture That Time Forgot
Perhaps more significant than the boy’s subversion of upper-class clothing was the girls’ appropriation of masculine styles. Whilst the pants worn by working women during the war were mostly shed in relief, replaced by the welcome femininity of silhouette-skimming skirts, the Teddy Girls clung to the new sartorial codes that the adoption of menswear for women ushered in: boxy single-breasted jackets and the slicked back quiff hairstyle, a proto-mohawk that would eventually give way to the more extreme hairstyles of punk. Despite their non-conformist style and rebellious attitude, “I never thought of those kids as anything but innocent,” Ken Russell told The Evening Standard. “Even the Teddy Girls [from the 1955 series The Last of the Teddy Girls], all dressed up, were quite edgy, and that interested me; they were more relevant and rebellious — but good as gold. They thought it was fun getting into their clobber, and I thought so too.” Read more
Alarming rise in alcohol abuse during COVID pandemic, study finds (2021)
Americans, particularly young adults, are increasingly turning to alcohol to cope with life during a viral pandemic, a new study shows. Read more (NY Post)
The New Sobriety (2019)
This is according to a new generation of kinda-sorta temporary temperance crusaders, whose attitudes toward the hooch is somewhere between Carrie Nation’s and Carrie Bradshaw’s. To them, sobriety is something less (and more) than a practice relevant only to clinically determined alcohol abusers. Now it can also just be something cool and healthful to try, like going vegan, or taking an Iyengar yoga class. Read more (NY Times)
The millennial wealth gap is growing as some flock to buy houses and others give up on homeownership entirely
One only has to compare millennials’ homes to see just how big the intragenerational wealth gap is. More millennials bought homes in 2020 than any other generation did that year, according to Apartment List’s Homeownership report. But at the same time, more millennials also now believe they’ll never be able to own a home — 18% said they plan to rent forever, up by 9% percentage points from the previous year. Read more (Business Insider)
The anxieties and apps fuelling the astrology boom
ome have lost loved ones to the virus. Some are searching for a new career after losing restaurant or entertainment jobs. Others are thriving with so much time at home. What they share is a desire for support, connection and self-knowledge. When the pandemic brought many parts of life to a screeching halt last year, explains Torres, “people were forced to really sit down with themselves and reflect on what their life was about and where their head was”. Read more (BBC)
Why China’s Millennials Are Targeting These Silicon Valley Brands
Stop me if you’ve come across this type of brand before: It has a contemporary and minimalist feel, tells a story of ethical production and sustainable living, and is based in California’s tech centers. Also known as the “DTC brands,” these West Coast-born lifestyle labels have seen their popularity soar with China’s young and upwardly-mobile consumer class over the past few years. Read more (Jing Daily)
