What's up with the Grups?

Given that a few of our staffers at The Daily Wenzel and even more of our friends have entered parenthood, it was perhaps inevitable that Adam Sternbaugh's article "Up With Grups" from New York made it's way to us. Furthermore, since many of us cut our teeth at "hip" institutions like Calgary's CJSW, Fast Forward, and VOX, we could all see ourselves somewhere in Sternbaugh's article about post-adolescent hipsters clinging to their youth.

While Sternbaugh's article spends more time discussing the consumption patterns of the parents he observes, he still delivers his observations on their attitudes and behaviours close to the mark. Having said that, we would like to offer a few comments:

1. Sternbaugh seems surprised that the adult members of the Gen X community are purchasing frivolous items geared towards a younger generation. He comes close when he mentioned that Gen X graduated into a recession. It wasn't just the recession however, marketing consultants at the time noted that members of Gen X were proving unusually cynical towards advertising, and many companies elected to skip Gen X as a consumer target group, aiming more towards their younger companions, the 'tweens. Now, flush with cash after the dot.com craze, ad execs are looking once more to Gen X'ers who find the attention flattering and no less susceptible now than any other generation.

2. We are experiencing one of those odd moments where two popular cultures are cohabitating in the same mass cultural space, namely that of the 1960s "counterculture" and its descendents, and that of "mainstream" society. The generation gap that Sternbaugh speaks of is a product of the clash between these two cultures. Grups, having grown-up in the media space occupied by the counterculture are perfecting at home listening to the music of the current counterculture. It is akin to fans of Frank Sinatra picking up on Michael Buble. Grups are simply trying to find their way through parenthood in the same way that hippies and punks did before them.