Millennial tastes are driving marketers crazy, but it's doing the food industry good.
If you're ever in the mood for a laugh, throw "millennials," "brands," and "marketing" into the ol' Google and give the internet a peruse.
At any given moment, marketing executives around the world are being paid gazillions of dollars to figure out the mystery behind what millennials buy and why we buy it. With the tactical precision of the three blind mice, advertisers invent absurd strategies to capture our attention, launching campaigns that they think are lit af but fall miserably short of the goal.
Especially in the food industry, marketers act like millennial behavior is totally uninterpretable. (Remember when they tried to say we don't eat cereal because we're lazy? That's why I opt for a fresh egg omelette every morning instead — way easier.)
Millennials are older now and starting to make up more of the world's annual spending, so whether they like it or not, brands are having to take our preferences more seriously. And (to their abject horror, I assume) what they're finding is that what we want is not only pretty simple, but could also have a positive impact on the food industry at large.
For starters, millennials want more facts about the food we consume.
Image by David Goehring/Flickr.
Not too much to ask, right? As the first generation that grew up alongside rather than ahead of the internet, millennials learned at a young age that any information we want is information we can get as long as we enter the right search terms. Our ability to instantly verify any claim an advertisement makes is why only 1% of millennials report being swayed by traditional marketing strategies. We rely instead on what we can trust: ourselves.
This is having a positive effect on the food industry because it means companies are becoming more transparent about their products to gain the trust of millennial consumers.
In a 2012 study of American and British adults, 8 in 10 millennials said they appreciated "behind the scenes" commercials for their food, like Whole Foods Market's Values Matter campaign, which links back to a page where the readers can verify the company's sustainability claims personally. By comparison, only 6.5 in 10 baby boomers indicated that they wanted more information about their food from brands.
Image by Glyn Lowe Photoworks/Flickr.
Millennials look to the facts for proof that the products we buy are doing good.
GlobeScan CSR has coined a term for this type of shopper — aspirationals, or "materialists who believe they have a responsibility to purchase products that are good for the environment and society." Millennials tend to fall into this category, with 40% of us preferring to shop local and nearly 75% of us willing to pay extra for sustainable goods.
Shopping local and sustainable produce cuts down on waste and pollution. It also boosts local economies and ecosystems.
Photo by Stephen Chernin/iStock.
As a result, brands are being forced to do better in order to stay competitive in a millennial-driven market.
To satisfy our desire for fact-based corporate responsibility practices, companies that already had these practices in place, like Whole Foods, are pushing that information out into the open, heightening the overall level of transparency in the food industry at large.
In 2015, 81% of S&P 500 companies released sustainability reports, up from 20% in 2011. In response to this pressure, the brands that aren't meeting the same high responsibility standards are being forced to change their practices to stay competitive. Even restaurants that are considered categorically unhealthy have launched plans to up their corporate practices, like McDonald's, which in 2014 announced its intent to gradually switch to sustainable beef.
As market demand (and brand loyalty) shifts toward environmentally and socially conscious business, corporations are adjusting, even before governments step in to enforce regulations.
Photo by Herry Lawford/Flickr.
There's one more way to capture a millennial's brand loyalty: Take a stand on something.
Millennial consumers aren't just interested in a company's ethics where its own business is concerned. Brands that advocate for social causes, such as LGBTQ rights, immigration law, and gender equality gain favor with millennials. Companies, like Starbucks, which not only exhibit ethical corporate policy and excellent employee treatment, but also frequently speak out on social and political issues, have some of the strongest brand-loyal customers worldwide.
As millennials take the wheel on driving the market, the food industry could also get a lot more culturally diverse.
As a group, millennials are more ethnically diverse than our predecessors and have a more welcoming attitude toward new and different food cultures. The Hartman Group's study on generational food trends reports that millennials are 10-20% less interested in classic American or Americanized ethnic foods than baby boomers, and they express an increased interest in different kinds of global cuisine. A growing demand for international food could present a wider niche for new business opportunities, like immigrant-owned restaurants.
Image via iStock.
The takeaway? Once marketers stop hating on millennial preferences, the whole industry should see an increase in pro-social, sustainable food culture.
While it's true that millennials might present more of a challenge to marketers than in the past, that's a really good thing. It suggests that the market is being driven by a smarter, more empathetic consumer base, which in turn is driving companies to pick up more socially and environmentally friendly practices that benefit all of us.
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There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."