Ron de Varona
Staff Writer
PC: Mike Mozart
A quick little Google search can offer some great insight as to what people think Millennials are “single-handedly” killing. Google suggested that we are killing mayonnaise, Reddit, Hooters, Capitalism, golf, divorce, cable, lunch and beer. Even though I agree some of those things can go and no one would cry, I highly doubt that beer and lunch are going to disappear anytime soon, if even at all. To assume so would mean one of two things: you are delusional or you simply need a news headline that tries to scare anyone above the age of 50.
I say that articles like this are trying to scare people by using fear-mongering. The wealthy are trying to make you defend their precious industries by saying, “insert group here killed the insert industry here.” Yet, aren’t we supposed to not group people together in blanket statements? Could you imagine the flak they would get if they said that the elderly are killing the sporting goods industry?
Once you put aside the blatant attempt to spook people with headlines, I guess you could say that the youths are killing some of these industries in a way. However, it is not a new phenomenon for businesses to eventually die once they lose their popularity. Let me give you an example. Mayonnaise is a condiment which you either like or don’t. It will be on counters until people stop spending money on it, and no one single group of people will get rid of it. The three different articles saying that Millenials killed mayo are blaming an entire generation for a change in taste. People love pointing the finger at someone else.
But now let’s look at Hooters. Most people that go there don’t only want chicken wings. You can get chicken wings almost anywhere. The real draw is the beautiful waitresses which the customers ogle. I remember being brought to Hooters when I was young by my father. He was not admiring the decor. Those with similar experience to mine, raised in a new time of tolerance and understanding, maybe don’t want to support a pervy restaurant that only hires female waitstaff based off their appearances.
Bottom line is, if your business dies as time goes on, it’s not the new generation’s fault. Sears is no longer in their prime, and that isn’t the newest generation of consumers’ fault. New and better things arise constantly, and people are allowed to decide where they their money goes. This is regardless of age. I’m going to be 80 years old, and if something better than H&M comes out, I am going to shop there. The next time someone tells you that the new generation killed, oh, I don’t know, eating? Slap them, then tell them it was not the youth, it was time. Just like everything that has ever existed, all things will eventually lose their battle with time.
Categories: Opinions
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