Generation X

Term Paper Title	Generation X
# of Words	1405
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	5.62

Generation X

            We are the target group for almost every advertising agency in America.  We are the group of people who have been labeled as Generation X.  Every product that is made is pushed in our faces and we are told that since we are a part of this Generation we must all need this product or want this product.  One major problem with this Generation X labeling is that no one is completely sure about who is and who is not a part of the Generation.  Another problem is that we are all supposed to be basically the same kind of person and like basically the same kinds of things.
These myths are not true and the proof of that is that there are several gaps between the people of different age groups within our generation.
             It does not matter if you are watching television, listening to the radio, or reading a newspaper or magazine.  No matter what you are doing for entertainment most of the advertisements that you will see are directed at the people of the Generation known simply as Generation X.  Even if you are just taking a trip to your local convenience store, you will view the Generation X campaign hard at work.  You will see the brightly colored packages or bottles and you will see the slogans devoted to being extreme and listening to �rock-and-roll.�  They are all trying to make us buy this products by using the �in order to be cool and accepted by your peers you need this� campaign.  Most of us older Generation X'ers know that this is exactly what they are doing and are smart enough to know that it is not true.  The problem with that is the younger Generation X'ers, the fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen year olds, who may still be in High School are very likely to fall for this silly campaign.  I personally do not believe in naming a generation.  I can not find any purpose in it, except maybe for people of the older generations so they can have some means to compare the people of different age groups.  It is also my opinion
that the characteristics associated with Generation X were created by the media for Generation X instead of being the original traits by which they can describe our generation.  They are telling us how we should dress and what and where we should eat and drink.  The media made Generation X and anytime they feel like changing a certain aspect of it they can.  For example, the costume of Generation X used to be flannel shirts and cut-up, sloppy clothes  (The �Seattle look�).  Then fashion designers decided to copy this look in their own twisted way and present it to the world they way they think it should look.  Soon after this they decided to completely change it and now we are all supposed to be dressing in a new different style.
           One more problem with this Generation X thing is that the same media that created the attitude of Generation X can not decide who does and who does not belong to it.  Time magazine says that Generation X is the �Americans born between 1965 and 1976.�  A press release from the BMG record label says that Generation X is the group �young adults aged 16 to 24.�  Authors William Strauss and Neil Howe say that Generation X is made up of people born between 1961 and 1981.  Business Week says that they are �humans born from 1963 to 1974.�  If all of this confusion is not enough, if you are between the ages of 18 and 21 no one can decide whether you are a member of Generation X or a member of the group which was given to, as Link magazine calls them �those who came even later than those who came later� better know as Generation Y.  I agree that Generation X ends with people born in 1981, but I am not exactly sure where or how to determine its beginning.  I am not sure if it begins with the �twenty-somethings� or the �thirty-somethings�.  The reason that I agree with...

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