Generation Y and Consumption

The Generation Y grew up and with them the consumption of everything has also changed. It is common knowledge that 9 out of 10 use their smartphones to look for a personal service customization. That's basically who we are, we like to be "special", we like to see promotion that are made "exclusively" for us and that's fine because business in general are taking huge advantages of that.

Youtube, the website that everyone uses to see their favorite youtuber, or to see that funny video or that DIY (Do It Yourself) that teaches how to assemble a new bed, it is a free website and you don't have to pay anything for it, but you have to have an account and they know what you consume at their website, and with that, the advertises that you see before the video are geared towards you. Youtube is not the only one who does that. Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter… name any “free” app that works like a social network and you will see that the advertises that you see, are like “made” for you.

I still remember one day when I was talking with my best friend through Facebook (at the time, it was cool to use Facebook, ok?) that I was planning of leaving my parents’ home and rent a place for myself. What happened a few moments later? Yep, A lot of houses and apartments to rent started popping up at my screen. And I still haven’t looked for anything yet. Scary, right? But I bet that you, my dear reader, has experienced something similar, right? Yeah, I thought so.

What is happening now about this kind of advertisement is something that will never disappear and I have to tell you that this is going to be even “worse”. Or better, depending on the case. The companies are profiting more because people are actively buying stuff that they want (want is different from need, but we’ll get at that later) because of this kind of advertisement.

The problem of all that is, are we, the consumers, ready to handle that? My answer is no. Most of people are not ready to be exposed to that kind of advertisement, the one that goes directly into their heart for them to confuse want for need and buy the item anyway. I don’t know if kindergarten teachers or even high school teachers are ready to handle that, how to pass that knowledge to students in a good and informative way.

Maybe this is something that we, future parents, are going to teach our children? “Hey, don’t click in that ad. Don’t click in that banner. No, your penis will not grow up if you take those pills.” What teachers and professors can do right now is to teach how people can choose between the things they need from the things they want. Maybe that is a good start to handle the new way of doing advertising.