Don't call them old

A long time ago (it seems) I was interviewed for a newspaper piece:

Don't call them old
JEAN STARR Times Correspondent
December 14, 2003
"Not wanting to get/be/look older isn't anything new. However, baby boomers will do it a bit differently," he said. "Looking and being healthy will be more important than toupees and botox.”

I’ve been talking about this stuff for that long?  I was so young back then.  It was before the book, this blog – although I was writing about baby boomers on something that was a blog before there were blogs.

And I’d been interviewed plenty of times – but this was the first time I’d been asked about Baby Boomers and advertising.

While reading the article again after so many years, I realized that some but not much has changed. 

And it reminded me of a recent chat with an entrepreneur.  He has an interesting sports-related product, something many Boomers and other demos would enjoy and benefit from – but it’s being positioned and marketed as a medical device.  It’s not at all cool-looking and oozes old.

From that 2003 article:

Nyren dreams about, what for him, would be the perfect bicycle. "It would be cool-looking, not flashy. It would have wide tires and a huge comfy seat. It would have handlebars like on the old Schwinns," he said. "You want to sit there and be comfortable. You want some gears but you don't need 150. And you don't want to look old."

I’ve given up on the not looking old part – but the rest still rolls.