As some of you might know, I share a lot of stuff on youth audiences; from insight reports and articles to a weekly update – in short, alongside my marketing and communications work, I’m really passionate about how to do better when it comes to young people. The content I focus on steers clear of some of the more sensationalist, “generational war” articles that are ever increasing, because they don’t really add any insight and tend to be pretty one-sided.
At a talk I delivered to the CIPR Health AGM in October, I shared a slide which featured headlines, the ones I tend to avoid, that I’d collected that had appeared in just a few weeks before I spoke. They perpetuated stereotypes about young people being lazy, Gen Z being woke and veered from the bizarre to hysterical.
I actually dedicated half the slide to the Daily Mail as that was where the majority of headlines came from. After a bit of discourse about the Mails’ recent piece on Gen Z preferring so-called woke sandwich fillings (chicken apparently, who knew), I wondered whether I could dig into the data and take a look at how the Mail talk about Gen Z specifically.
One (ok two), probably quite woke (I used oat cream) coffees later, I’d taught myself how to run a data scrape on 1000 of the Daily Mails most recent articles which came up in relation to Gen Z. With a bit of help from AI, I also could then interrogate the most used words and phrases, and how these words and phrases could be aligned to stereotypes and specific topic areas. My geek levels rising, I then reviewed the sentiment of the articles as well as whether any seemed based on actual data or facts, or were more opinion-based.
In relation to negative stereotypes and key topics, you can see a pattern. When it comes to work, career and jobs Gen Z are associated with negative stereotypes such as lazy, entitled, failure and unrealistic. When it comes to social media and technology, woke and selfish are frequent and with family and culture, woke crops up again.
When it comes to sentiment, it is mixed, there are occasional positives, but mostly articles lean toward a more critical portrayal. This is down to;
Frequent use of negative stereotypes like lazy, entitled, woke, snowflakes and often written with furious reaction, linked to generational clashes. Topics like work, jobs and social media were often associated with negative traits when it comes to Gen Z like irresponsibility, failure or difficulty
Highlighting generational tensions, portraying Gen Z as the source of societal problems or culture shifts that are met with resistance e.g. being blamed for trends or changes.
Focus on controversies in headlines emphasising polarising issues like cancel culture and woke politics, framing Gen Z as overly sensitive or ideologically rigid.
For balance, I will share the positive portrayals;
Positive traits were often acknowledged with descriptors such as innovative, tech-savvy, creative and inclusive being occasionally used, especially when discussing technology, social justice, or adaptability. Gen Z’s engagement with platforms like TikTok was framed as both trendsetting and influential force.
Nuanced discussions in ‘some’ topics, such as fashion, media and technology, there was acknowledgement of Gen Z’s creativity and impact, suggesting some appreciation of their forward-thinking and cultural relevance.
Ok, all interesting stuff but in terms of how things are written, what does a tone assessment tell us. I asked Chat GPT for a review of the tone as I knew I was perhaps bias;
“The media outlet’s tone often seemed to lean toward sensationalism, focusing on polarizing or emotionally charged narratives. While some positive traits were highlighted, the overall framing of Gen Z leaned towards a critical or sceptical view, particularly in areas like work ethic, social behaviours and generational differences”.
Ok but is this based in data or evidence? From this initial scrape – no it’s not. A lack of research, studies, statistical evidence or credible sources were used, often coupled with a lack of context, such as other demographic trends or comparisons. Admittedly, for a deeper look at this I would go further into full articles, but I was just two coffees in.
I’ll leave the final quote to my pal Chat GPT because I feel it sums it up nicely;
“There is limited evidence that these stereotypes are rooted in objective data or fact. Instead they appear to be driven largely by the journalist’s style, aiming for sensationalism and engagement. The framing often exaggerates or simplifies complex generational issues, emphasising emotionally charged narratives over balanced reporting.”
Right, I’m off for a chicken sandwich.
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