Am I even a Millennial?

Before you go ahead and dive in, let’s establish if you are even a Millennial or are suffering from Millennial imposter syndrome.

According to The Pew Research Center:

Millennials include anyone born between 1981 and 1996.

Qualify? Great. To save you some Googling, here is where we stand with/against other generations:

• Generation X = anyone born from 1965 to 1980.

• Baby (okay) boomers = anyone born from 1946 to 1964.

• Generation Z = anyone born from 1997 to 2012.

Memorize all of that - it’ll come in handy later.

Before we jump in further…

It’s not lost on me on how busy you are and I’m grateful for the subscription. If this was passed onto you, please join me for future editions by clicking on the button below.

So what’s this again?

This is a place for all Millennials (the greatest generation) to unwind with a cup of coffee (or something a bit harder if you are a liquor brand interested in sponsoring this newsletter) and catch up on the latest discourse in news, trends, business, culture, etc. while re-visiting some of the nostalgia of our past.

A 1986 baby myself, over the past few years, I’ve grown into feeling my age. From crazy offline/online interactions with other generations, to not understanding how to change my username on TikTok (should I even be on TikTok?! We’ll save that for later…), as well as tough conversations on getting older we all have with peers, the world continually provides reminders on how fast it’s moving ahead. As crazy as it may seem sometimes, I think we Millennials can keep pace and admire the absurdity of it all.

If I get anything beyond an opened email from you, I really hope it’s a laugh. And maybe a liquor sponsor. But really just a laugh or two to make your day a little richer.

Other generations are welcome, too.

Deep(ish) Millennial Thought of the Week

Is there an age where wearing your baseball cap backwards goes from fashion staple to fashion faux-pas?

You’ve probably seen the “Fellow Kids” meme of Steve Buscemi wearing a backwards hat as a very “young-looking” undercover cop infiltrating high schools by now. If you haven’t, check out this clip of NBC’s 30 Rock for that weekly laugh I promised.

Post-airing, Steve’s iconic styling of a red baseball cap backwards while having a skateboard in tow has come to symbolize boomers (scroll up, I told you that info would come in handy) who are out of touch with what’s cool in culture. There’s even a whole /FellowKids subreddit on this.

I’ve laughed pretty hard at this meme and have re-purposed it many times over since it’s rise to fame, mostly in my own self-deprecation. But as I get older myself, I’ve often wondered if my Millennial wearing of my own cap backwards is culturally acceptable anymore?

The origin of wearing one’s cap backwards dates as far back as 1987 when Sylvester Stallone wore a southward-facing brim in the arm wrestling classic, Over The Top. The trend rose to true fame in the 1990s, when Major League Baseball superstar Ken Griffey Jr. popularized the now common look after wearing it this unique way to emulate his father as kid.

It’s now 2023. I’ve spent decades wearing my cap backwards. Be it at the gym, on work Zoom calls, even the occasional fifth-to-sixth date, the cap has been rotated 180 degrees. But as I celebrate more birthdays, with any youthful fashion trend (see logos on t-shirts, top and bottom matching jumpsuits, etc.), I begin to wonder if I have aged out of this trend.

As Millennials grow, how do we truly determine what is “in” or “out” for us? While we sometimes want to avoid the dreaded “cringe” label, I love what Chris Elvidge of MR PORTER has to say in his own deep dive on the subject.

THE VERDICT: Quell those thoughts in your head. Wear those caps in confidence any way you want. You look awesome if you believe it.

Less Deep(ish) Millennial Stuff of the Week

• TWITTER BLUE(S) CONTINUE: Twitter further spiraled down its path of uniting dividing the online discourse by rolling out confusing verification guidelines that continue to change by the minute. The New York Times does a nice job of asking whether it’s cool to have a blue check or not in 2023. I’ll be saving my $8 for now. Eggs are still expensive. And is a Blue Sky ahead for everyone?

• THE FURTHER DECLINE OF THE 9-5?: While the debate over in-office, hybrid, and remote working rages on, a new study indicates that the traditional 9 am-5 pm expected working schedule could be shifting as well. A recent Adobe survey revealed that 18% of Millennials preferred to work from 6 pm-3 am, compared to 26% of Gen Z and only 6 percent of Boomers. As we learn to work better cross-generationally, expect further changes to the “flexible” office. 78% of us already want to switch jobs in favor of better work/life balance.

• SUBSCRIPTION FATIGUE: Millennials are sick of paying too much for their entertainment subscriptions. AdAge revealed that a recent Deloitte survey showed 62% of us churned from SVOD (subscription video on demand) services over the last 6 months. Millennials are already spending $54 on average per month for SVOD. How can we afford eggs at this rate, let alone a house? Are you ready to make any changes to your streaming lineup?

• HANG WITH THE SLANG - One of the inspirations for this newsletter is to continually guide Millennials and help them find their way with the universe. With that, here’s a fun quiz from The Washington Post to see if you can hang with Gen Z slang. Ready to learn more? No cap, this guide will also help you out.

Millennial Product Spotlight

If you are old enough to remember this and it also blew you away at the time of its launch in 1992/93, you’ve subscribed to the right newsletter.

Crystal Pepsi made its big splash with this ultra 90s commercial debut. Van Halen’s “Right Now” (a Gen X anthem) is only one of the many amazing things going on in this minute of magic. Despite the fact that this was not even close to being the first clear cola on the market, the drastic change in color of the traditionally dark Pepsi was one of the first marketing moves to capture my easily-won attention at the time. To put it simply, I was oddly mesmerized by the morphing of something so familiar into the “future of cola” via a startling new colorless appearance.

Born out of former Pepsi marketing executive David Novak’s thought that Pepsi should find a way deeper into the growing clear and caffeine free cola market and really stand out at the point of sale, Crystal Pepsi quickly became the star of every 90s vending machine. For under two(ish) years that is…

So what happened? Well, for starters, Pepsi guarded the recipe of the original Pepsi, making it hard to replicate in new form when Crystal Pepsi was being formulated. The taste, as our younger friends like to call it, was “sus” at best.

Additionally, Pepsi refused to market it as the originally-intentioned “healthy” since it contained high fructose syrup and roughly the same amount of calories as O.G. Pepsi. This really was a one trick pony. In the end, all of this led to many first time consumers being one-and-done with this new cola kid on the block. By 1994, sales had rapidly declined and an SNL spoof may have been Crystal Pepsi’s final nail in the coffin.

Even with re-releases and a failed attempt at a comeback in 2022, Crystal Pepsi will always live on in our hearts for boldly shaking up the visual norm. We at Curb Your Millennialism would gladly give it another shot if our bodies could still handle high intakes of sugar. Thank you for the memories.

Millennial of The Week

Curb Your Millennialism scours the globe to find top Millennials making an impact on the world that embody the spirit of being part of the best generation.

Congrats to Nate Rosen. You are the first MOTW. In addition to being born in 1996 and liking most of my tweets, Nate is the author of Express Checkout, a great weekly newsletter covering all hot things in the CPG/Consumer/retail/supply chain worlds.

Have someone you feel deserves some special attention? Tweet your suggestions at me for future MOTWs.

That’s all for this episode…

Before I go, a little about me:

I’ve been in omnichannel marketing, business development, sales and operations for startups and big brands alike for over 15 years now. If you’d like to talk with me about consulting, find me on LinkedIn or Twitter or reply to this email. Or you can get creative, I know you have it in you!

Thanks for tuning in. Until next time…