Cereal-snubbers and the maligning of millenials
By Lynne Bell
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听听听听听听听听听听听 Are Fruit Loops finished? Has Cap'n Crunch crashed?
听听听听听听听听听听听 According to a recent New York Times report, cereal manufacturers are seeing a 15-year steady slide in profits, partly because-according to a survey by global research firm, Mintel- nearly 40 percent of young adults born between 1980 and 2000 (aka millenials) find 鈥渃ereal inconvenient to consume.鈥�
听听听听听听听听听听听 Following this revelation were a barrage of opinion pieces and news reports decrying the lazy entitlement of this particular demographic cohort.
听听听听听听听听听听听 However, all is not as it seems.
听听听听听听听听听听听 The survey's question in question actually read like this: 鈥淲hich of the following statements about hot or cold cereal do you agree with?鈥� And one of the choices for an answer was: 鈥淐ereal is inconvenient because I have to clean dishes after I prepare it.鈥�
听听听听听听听听听听听 Thirty-nine percent of millenials chose this answer, as well as 17 percent of Gen-Xers (those born between the mid-1960s and 1980), followed by 10 percent of Baby Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964). Perhaps unsurprisingly, only three percent of those born during World War Two selected this response.听听听听听
听听听听听听听听听听听 听If cereal sales are on the decline, a few other factors could be considered.
听听听听听听听听听听听 The popularity of low-carb diets and concern about excess sugar consumption might be one reason why cereal-snubbers are setting aside their morning bowls for something else.
听听听听听听听听听听听 And in the case of much-maligned millenials, portability is a key concern when it comes to breakfast. In the same report, the New York Times stated: 鈥淭hey either don't eat breakfast at all, or eat it somewhere other than home. And when they do eat breakfast, a bowl of cold cereal is often replaced by hot grains, smoothies, yogurt or breakfast sandwiches.鈥�
听听听听听听听听听听听 However, the millenials' prioritization of portability might be because they're hustling hard to make a living, which often consists of a few part-time jobs and/or contract positions strung together to make up something resembling a full-time job.
听听听听听听听听听听听 A fairer-and more accurate- depiction of millenials might result if a survey compared today's twenty-somethings with twenty-somethings of past generations, rather than comparing them to today's 30 to 70-year olds.
听听听听听听听听听听听 It's all too easy-and frankly, lazy-to automatically assume the default position of 鈥淜ids these days鈥� or 鈥淚n my day...鈥� when it comes to stereotyping younger people.
听听听听听听听听听听听 Millenials, like every generation before them, have unique challenges-and yes, advantages-that are particular to them.
听听听听听听听听听听听 As a group, they deal with a less certain and secure job market and a scary housing market, just to name two. And although they have embraced technology, they've had no choice but to ride this wave of unprecedented change.
听听听听听听听听听听听 听I work with two twenty-somethings, and Kelly and Ainsley are both hardworking, tech-savvy team players and would dispel the 鈥渓azy, entitled millenial鈥� stereotype within seconds.
听听听听听听听听听听听 Corporations and media outlets should take note-instead of grumbling about the perceived failings of today's twenty-somethings as they pertain to cereal bowls.
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Lazy Millennials to blame for decline in cereal sales?
By Kelly Running
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听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Well the Millennials are once again to blame. The 鈥渓azy鈥� generation has in fact been blamed for being so lazy that they鈥檙e to blame for a 15 year industry-wide profit decrease of cereal sales. Seriously? My generation is too lazy to make cereal!
听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Well I guess it鈥檚 time to defend my generation once again鈥� It seems to be a usual occurrence to defend against the laziness of my generation, but I digress.
听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Can the decline of cereal really be blamed on the laziness of Millennials? Sure, there are lazy people out there, that is transcends generations. But, lazy to the point of not being able to make cereal?
听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 A New York Times report essentially stated that Millennials were uninterested in pouring their cereal into a bowl, topping it with milk, eating with a spoon, and then cleaning dishes up afterwards. This is too much work apparently.
听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Now, I personally simply do not like cereal. It鈥檚 a texture thing, the same way I don鈥檛 care for bananas. If I don鈥檛 eat cereal fast enough it turns soggy and mushy, and it鈥檚 gross in my opinion. I sometimes will put granola with yogurt, but I prefer eating toast, eggs, or even leftovers before cereal. Leftovers from pizza, which isn鈥檛 too strange, to butter chicken and rice or leftover lasagne which I鈥檓 informed aren鈥檛 typical breakfast foods. 听 I鈥檝e never been big on stereotypical breakfast foods.
听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 But for Millennials to be called too lazy to eat cereal? I was surprised. Yes, my leftovers don鈥檛 take long to warm up and eat, and there鈥檚 minimal cleanup because all the dirty dishes were made the night before. However, choosing to have an egg sandwich in the morning comes with a few more dishes than cereal does, and that鈥檚 my go to in the morning.
听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 This concept is apparently one that is held across the board, however. The lazy Millennial doesn鈥檛 want to work, they no longer eat cereal because it鈥檚 a hassle, and I鈥檝e even heard that when marketing coffee that quick and easy types win out 鈥� the mix with hot water instant types 鈥� because Millennials don鈥檛 know how to make a pot of coffee and they don鈥檛 really like the taste.
听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 Again this was news to me as I made a cup of French pressed decaf coffee at home, which I drank black. Yes, it took me a little while to get used to the flavour of coffee, but now I very much like it and adding almond milk on occasion is as far as I go for changing it up.
听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 The idea of the lazy millennial is very much integrated into the thoughts of people today. But, when growing up we were always told we could do anything we wanted and for the most part, we wanted to make a difference, to do something worthwhile. For some they lucked out and found something that they feel is meaningful, that they think is contributing to their community or to the world, but others are spinning their tires wanting to find that feeling but not knowing what it is their calling in life is, so they bounce from job to job or only hold a part-time job. They鈥檙e trying to figure out what to do with their lives.
听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听 The idea of the lazy millennial is a generalization, which people love to do, but as with any generalization we don鈥檛 always understand the intricacies of it. 听
