[CPLX]

I feel like we've been infantalizing an entire generation. From where I stand it seems like marketing to millenials is oddly pedantic. Meme culture, "doggos", baby talk in tweets and texts, "adulting" and the strange pedantic tone you see in ads, all feel connected. I'm not sure if it's developer thing, or just a cultural thing.

Granted, I'm well aware the above is almost a caricature of what an old guy would say. Happens I guess.

[rc-1140]

> Meme culture, "doggos", baby talk in tweets and texts, "adulting"

As a younger person ('92 - I guess I qualify for millenial depending on who you ask?) who was on the internet and a part of nonsensical and whimsical communities like YTMND during my formative years and beyond, the items you listed are lost on me to some extent; I know what they are/what they mean, but all of it is brand new to my eyes. All I can tell you is that in my age group, way before any of this stuff started leaking from the internet, a meme was just an image macro based upon a repeating/old joke. Anything new and trending was appropriately called a "fad" on YTMND; if it stuck, it became a "classic" or was worthy of the title "meme" because of its permanence through the community. There are lots of little things that I wish I could explain that have been altered by outside groups that they no longer resemble what they were to my cohort, or at the very best are caricatures of what they used to be, but that would be a fruitless endeavor.

I used to think that all of what you listed was something targeted at people half my current age. However, my coworker at my last job managed to prove me wrong by being a solid 4 years older than I was and using the above cultural dialects you've referenced above. I think it's a bit of a problem, though not necessarily an emergency in the making.

Side note: It's kind of ridiculous; aforementioned subscribers think they can relate to me, "outsiders" (adults over 30) think I would relate to the subscribers (was an annoyance at college), but I can't relate to them at all. I definitely consider them the outgroup who came in, brought their friends, trashed the place, and went to find the next new thing.

[walshemj]

Well a couple of decades ago IBM for example had very "infantile" rules "fired for being seen in a Mc Donalds" let alone the older IBM songbook tradition!

[Jtsummers]

IBM was controlling, not infantilizing (at least with that example).

Infantilizing is companies thinking that they can win over employees with ping pong tables, free sodas, and not give them, you know, actual compensation.

Of course, as the dot com boom demonstrated, many in our industry fell for it.

[walshemj]

Well I think having a company songbook and starting the day with a song just like primary school is.

[Jtsummers]

That's fair. I was specifically referring to the McDonald's bit (and what I know of their former dress code). I had meant to look up the songbook thing.

EDIT: Actually, looking at that songbook, I'd still say it leans more towards controlling than infantilizing. By having people participate in a common display like that you get them to act as a group (positive thing), but based on the lyrics they're almost like corporate versions of jingoistic/nationalistic songs. It's a brainwashing thing.

This is still very different than infantilizing. It does signal a lack of respect for their employees (to a degree). But it does not indicate treating them as children.