Chapter Twelve Summary and Analysis

As Millenials begin to assert their vast commercial, which is greater than any earlier youth generation, marketers believe that they crave goods that are more shocking than what has gone before. The best symbol of this marketing strategy is Abercrombie and Fitch's borderline-pornographic magazines that the company uses to sell its clothes. However, Howe and Strauss argue that these attempts at branding through shock are becoming less successful and Millenials are reverting to more traditional, mass styles.

Spending by and on Millenials is enormous and growing. For instance, during the 1990s, spending by and on children from 4 to 12 triples. The growth in spending is being driven by almost every part of the population, not just children and their parents. Howe and Strauss identify four components in youth consumption. The first is that parents are gaining more influence over the...