Credulous boomers falling for celebrity endorsements

In advertising, image is everything. So to attract aging baby boomers — the generation that once proclaimed "never trust anyone over 30" — advertisers are turning to some icons of their youth. Dennis Hopper, the counterculture rebel of the movie "Easy Rider," pitches retirement planning; “Star Trek's” Mr. Spock, pain relief, and “Rocky Horror's” Susan Sarandon escaped the time warp to turn back the hands of time for Revlon. "Advertisers Find the Right Pitch in Boomer Icons" MSNBC

"Envirohats" and tetherball: Boomer trends for the coming year

If you’re wondering what’s on the Baby Boomer agenda for the coming year, Age Lessons, a consulting firm specializing in Boomer marketing and workplace issues, has assembled a list of the Top 10 Boomer Trends on the bubble for 2007. Trends include ear prompters, faux families, retro sports, cultural Renaissance, storytelling, micro housing developments, envirohats, vitaMEns, anniversoirees and sAGE power. "Age Lessons Forecasts Top 10 Boomer Trends for 2007" Businesswire.com

In the UK: Boomers: "selfish, stupid, boring, and infantile"

There should be an anti-babyboomer section in bookshops. The 45- to 60-years-olds among us are, on the whole, selfish, stupid, boring and infantile. Increasingly, they are facing up to their shortcomings. Shelves can and will be filled with middle-aged mea culpas. Of course, every generation screws up in one way or another, but there is something peculiarly irritating about the failings of such a pampered bunch. "A Bunch of Old Softies" Sunday Times (UK)

Boo Hoo: hippie decries intolerance

For the second time in recent months, a person openly, and to my face, hatefully called me a "hippie," inferring that I was somehow lesser of a human being due to my long hair and beard. Most recently it happened at Snowmass ski area. Let's be honest with ourselves. When spoken with hatred, this type of slur is bigotry, prejudice, equal to calling a person a Jew, nigger, spic, etc. And let us not delude ourselves about our advancement of social moral integrity, or rather a lack there of... "'Hippie' Not a Slur To Be Taken Lightly" Aspen Times Leave it to a self-centered boomer to equate the "hippie slur" with 20th century totalitarian atrocities...

New study undermines boomer drug war myth

Marijuana is not a "gateway" drug that predicts or eventually leads to substance abuse, suggests a 12-year University of Pittsburgh study. Moreover, the study's findings call into question the long-held belief that has shaped prevention efforts and governmental policy for six decades and caused many a parent to panic upon discovering a bag of pot in their child's bedroom. "No 'Smoking' Gun: Research Indicates Teen Marijuana Use Does Not Predict Drug, Alcohol Abuse" Science Daily The groundless belief that casual pot use leads to "hard" drug addiction has been repeatedly debunked. Yet the "gateway" theory remains a staple of the prohibitionist gospel. Why? The attraction may have something to do with the fact that far too many boomers went from puffing pot to a decade-long coke binge... You might call it projection as public policy.

Aging boomers trickle into rehab

It's the generation that came of age in the permissive 1960s and '70s, part of the counterculture revolution that embraced the mantra "turn on, tune in, drop out." Now they are graying -- but some are still having a hard time breaking away from or resisting marijuana, cocaine and other illegal drugs. A national drug survey by the federal government, for example, has found that between 2002 and 2005, use of illegal drugs fell 15 percent among teenagers, but increased 63 percent among people in their 50s. "For Aging Drug Users, It's Hard To Kick The Habits" Star Tribune (Minnesota)