I belong to the age
bracket profoundly referred to as Generation Y, and so do most of my friends,
workmates and business associates. Most of my friends and colleagues were born
in the mid-1970's up to the late 1990's. I am closer to those born in the early
1980s up to the late 1980s. These we are bonded by age. Most of them have
either climbed near the top of various corporate ladders (middle management or
junior management positions) or running promising businesses. A few of them are
in senior management at the top of the corporate ladder or running successful
business entities.
Despite our dynamism and
huge age gaps, we have all been classified by marketing experts as belonging to
Generation Y. The emergence of Generation Y – defined as those born in early 1980's up to the early 2000's – presents marketers with
many challenges. This market segment, also frequently called Millennials, spans
a broad range of life-stages, from those just getting into secondary school to
those with spouses, children and home loans. We are not, therefore, a homogeneous whole – but have been shaped by the same socio–economic trends. We share
similar traits, habits and values – all of which marketers need to grasp fully in their branding
strategy.
Generation Y is
particularly important to marketers because it is arguably the generation which
has been responsible for today’s excessive consumerism. Every marketer knows too well that the
biggest problem encountered in satisfying Generation Y consumers is that they
have frequently changing tastes. For this generation everything simply comes
and quickly goes out of fashion. One thing though that is in comportment at all
levels of Generation Y consumers is their need for self-importance and a high
degree of grandiosity.
Generation Y likes to own
everything that is nice. The biggest job. The biggest car. The biggest house.
The biggest of everything. BIG is what defines us. In addition to BIG, there is
another word and it is called BLING. Bling is the slang word for ‘shiny’. So, we love shiny big
things and nothing else ever matters. Perhaps put in a different way, I may say
we are a proud and selfish generation. We may not be at the level of
selfishness and self-centeredness that Dr Chika Onyeani in ‘capitalist nigger’ describes as, "killer-instinct"
and "devil-may-care" arrogance of Caucasians, but we definitely have
a level of brashness that generations before us lacked.
The most important things
to us are our own needs and nothing more. Perhaps we have become so exposed, so
educated and so prosperous nothing else matters. Not religion, not any creeds
and doctrines. Fulfillment of self is our number one and the only motivation
for our everyday life.
Globalization and
technology has enabled us to explore and experience the length and breadth of
the world even without physically being present in certain areas. The internet has
enabled us to look at the world as one big global village. For this and other
reasons, we look at the world with a high level of open mindedness. In being
open minded, we have embraced capitalism more and now we are viewed as being self-centered.
It may be arguable which
social system is the best, but free enterprise (capitalism) always has an edge
over socialism and communism. Socialism and communism moralize that individuals
should not have ownership of land, capital (money), or industry, but rather the
whole community collectively owns and controls property, goods, and production. Ideally, in this system
all share equally in work and the fruits of their labor.
Under Capitalism,
individuals own and control land, capital, and production of industry. Individuals are free to
purchase and own their own homes, cars, furniture, and other goods such as TV,
radio, computer, etc. Individuals have total freedom to live where they want
and what type of careers they want to pursue.
The biggest problem with
socialism and communism lies in human attitudes. If you don't own something, you
are not obliged to take good care of it. For instance, in Zambia, institutional
and council houses that had been dilapidated as a result of tenants not taking good
care of them and consequently lost value suddenly turned into well maintained
mansions after massive renovations and extensions to the properties once they
were privately owned and thus experienced a rise in value. The ‘va boma’ attitude suddenly died as
owners now had a vested interest in keeping the houses in good condition.
Critics have charged that capitalist
social systems insist too much on material possessions, and a love affair with ‘worldly’ possessions which is not sustainable.
Capitalism does not tell men to suffer, but to pursue enjoyment and
achievement. Capitalism tells people to
produce and profit—capitalism does not preach passivity, humility, resignation, but
independence, self-confidence and self-reliance.
My view… my thoughts…
Since knowledge, thought,
and rational action are properties of the individual, since the choice to
exercise his rational aptitude or not depends on the individual, man’s survival requires that
those who think be free to do so and that their thoughts should create as much
as can be largely possible. Free thought is what creates innovation which in
turn conceives entrepreneurs who build businesses which in turn generate jobs.
Jobs bring about the
working class who largely form the middle class, and it is the middle class who
are responsible for massive consumerism thus creating a market for more goods
from more corporations. This is the supremacy of capitalism. Enabling one man
and giving him the freedom to invent, giving him/her the power to create wealth
not only for him/herself, but an entire nation.
The unrestricted accumulation
of legal capital drives economic activity - the need to continuously produce
profits and reinvest this profit into the economy is what develops countries.
Generation Y must not be apologetic for seeking profit, useful goods and
services are a byproduct of pursuing profit.
Generation Y has been
criticized by many as being extremely self-centered and lacking humility. This
is perhaps what a country like Zambia needs - A cadre of citizens not afraid to
go to great heights in pursuit of profit. The mechanics of a free market
economy will self-regulate to dictate and promote good industry practice and
cripple those that do not respect the best business practice.
Generation Y is constantly
upgrading academic and professional qualification in search of excellence which
in turn translate into better jobs. Generation Y is not afraid to hop from one
job to the next in search of a better pay or just to be separated from a
vexatious boss. This is not a sign of a lack of loyalty, but a sign of a people
driven by attainment of the highest standards. In reality generation Y abhors
the idea of having a boss. Generation Y prefers to be employees for a substantial
period of time and there after turn to entrepreneurs who start business and
eventually manage them.
Again Generation Y must
not be apologetic or be seen by employers as lacking loyalty. However,
employers must rejoice that they are probably hiring the best out of the
available pool and if that best is not good enough it won’t be long before another
more capable individual comes knocking on that door and the employer only stands to gain
in this case.
Generation Y believes that
Capitalism demands the best of every man—his rationality—and rewards him accordingly. The best of every man only manifests
when he/she realizes that each one of us must contribute to the world’s production and there is
no better way of being productive but by being innovative.
For all the pursuit of
profit, we must however never lose our humanity. We should never take the route
of extreme pursuit of profit as every game has rules thus the pursuit of profit
must be done and attained within the legal limits. Lyndon B. Johnson would have
better said this as; “I pray we are
still a young and courageous nation, that we have not grown so old and so fat
and so prosperous that all we can think about is to sit back with our arms
around our money bags. If we choose to do that I have no doubt that the
smoldering fires will burst into flame and consume us -- dollars and all.”
There is no social order
that is perfect. In fact good socialism can be better than bad capitalism where
only the rich get richer and the extreme social classes are maintained by the
same people without ever having others cross to the other side or the middle. Socialism
that permits more free market signals
and personal freedoms can be superior to a Capitalism that permits pursuit of profit by an
elite manipulating public policy. Bad capitalism is equally as debauched as bad
socialism or communism.
