There’s this fellow in England. A few years ago he wrote a book about burning his clothes because they were famous brands, and wondered if this would cause him to have some sort of identity crisis. He’s an odd chap, as they say.
I’m having the same issues – but for opposite reasons. I dress in and buy only generic, store brands. I’ve lost my identity. Oh, for some Genuine Levi’s®, a packet of Bayer® Aspirin, and a bottle of Heinz 57® Ketchup! I’d finally feel like myself again.
Back to the brand burner: I guess he needed a follow-up project with another scapegoat – so his new tome trashes Baby Boomers.
I kidded around about boomer-bashing way back in 1997, deciding it was all silly stuff (although ageism isn’t).
The problem is this: I keep getting emails from people because they’ve read this fellow’s blog promoting his boomer-bashing book – and everyone says he quotes me.
I finally tracked down the alleged quote – and I never said any of it. Not in my book, not on my blog, not anywhere.
I googled the quote and all I came up with was his blog:
I don’t own the phrase Advertising to Baby Boomers. I’ve seen it a few places other than my own writings. But I did coin it in 2003, it’s the name of my book and blog and usually the theme of my speaking/consulting gigs, so I am very much associated with it – like David Wolfe is with Ageless Marketing, Dick Stroud with Age-Neutral Marketing, and Brent Green with Marketing to Leading-Edge Baby Boomers.
To set the record straight – this odd fellow either made up the quote or found it somewhere else – obviously in a place that is ungoogleable.
That doesn’t mean I haven’t had plenty to say on the subject:
Me vs. We
Me vs. We Redux
Me vs. We Redux Redux
Len Steinhorn and Brent Green talk at length about this scapegoat phenomenon. Dick Stroud doesn’t think the chap who wrote the boomer-bashing book really believes what he says.
I hope for his sake that this sad sack doesn’t have any more identity crises. First his clothes go into the bonfire, then copies of his books will for sure – and next he’ll jump in.
It won’t be pretty.
But looking on the bright side, at last he’ll finally be rid of the most noxious brand of all – his Personal Brand.
IMMN is a non-profit consortium of marketers, advertisers, agency execs, manufacturers, publicists, media, academics and researchers focused on the 40+ consumer, a market of growing size and influence around the world.
All of IMMN’s Board Members and Advisors are hugely active in the 40+ marketing space. Not only are there books in the making, speaking engagements to hold, business consultancies happening, television appearances being taped, and tweets being tweeted, but there are many popular and informative blogs being updated as we speak.
