Who are these men?

PUBLISHED: March 7, 2004 at 1:00 AM CST | UPDATED: August 19, 2021 at 5:16 PM CDT

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

For advertisers, they are the Holy Grail.

They are the most sought-after demographic — early adopters of technology, tastemakers and trend shapers who influence much of what we see on television, the Internet, billboards and in the movies. They are the muses for “The Howard Stern Show” and “Jackass: The Movie.”

They are males between the ages of 18 and 34.

“They are the media darlings; they are exactly who you want to reach,” says Cynthia Engelke of Youth Intelligence, a market research and trend-spotting company in New York City.

If we’re to believe the research, men 18-34 have more disposable income than other age groups and are developing brand loyalties. They also tend to be more selective in their media choices than women in the same age group.

“They are hard to get to, and they have a lot of money,” Engelke says. “There is also more competition for men. They’re varied in what they do, how they consume media — they are not just watching ‘The Bachelor’ every Wednesday.”

But who are they really? Do they buy into the power they have as consumers? How do they use the media? Is the image portrayed by advertisers really reflective of their tastes? Why are they watching less TV than they used to? Do they all like fart jokes?

To understand the faces behind the statistics, the Tribune put together a panel of randomly selected men in the prized demographic and just let them talk. As with most statistical creations, the reality is more complicated than the abstract. While these young men had common ideas on some subjects, they also had some strikingly different views. You might find some of their answers surprising: One went to an Adam Sandler movie not because he wanted to but because his girlfriend did.

Read on for the Tribune’s own “reality show” on the 18-34-year-old age group:

One of the big stories recently was from Nielsen, which measures TV ratings. A 12-year trend that they’ve been tracking is that 18-34-year-olds have been declining in TV viewership. Why might that be?

Theaster: The quality of programming on standard television, even movies, is crap.

I don’t have very much time in a day to be casual, and if watching television is a casual event, then there are all these other things that take precedence over being casual in front of a television. I’d much rather veg out in front of the Internet because there are resources that are stimulating and get real information.

Or digital cable radio, where I can get non-stop reggae, and I know it’s going to be quality. Or I can read a book. I’d rather read print than watch television just ’cause I feel like I have a bit more of an option in a used bookstore than I do watching Channel 9, 7 or 11. It’s more fulfilling than “King of Queens.”

Rob: I watch more TV now than I did five years ago, but that’s because of TiVo. I can go ahead and watch six episodes of “The Simpsons,” and it’ll take me two hours, instead of having to sit through the commercials.

Dave: Almost 100 percent of all my TV watching is reruns of old shows because there’s nothing good on. I watch “Seinfeld” reruns and “The Simpsons.” I try to watch live baseball too.

Herman: I don’t watch TV hardly at all, if ever. If I do, I watch “Law & Order” or “24,” because that’s what my girlfriend watches. Other than that, she’s hooked on reality TV. I totally tune that stuff out, and I end up going on the Internet while she’s having her fun. . . .

Rob: In the mid-1990s, we wound up being a Nielsen [ratings test] family, and the forms were not designed for me. I found that in a half-hour, I was watching five different shows and I had to cram them all on that little line. Because as soon as a commercial came on, I changed the channel. I don’t have that much free time, and I don’t want to spend it watching 12 minutes of commercials in a half-hour show.

Tam: I’m pretty into sports, so I watch everything from Ping-Pong to bowling and poker — anything that’s on ESPN.

Herman: The formula that seems to be in existence has been going on forever, with the same old themes, misunderstandings and stereotypes. You just get tired of the same programming, just in a different package. Maybe that’s why reality TV is so hot. It’s something that supposedly feels real, and it’s supposed [to be] different, but within one season, all these spinoffs have come out using the same formula, just in different contexts. So that’s already getting tired. I have no time or patience or interest in it.

According to recent Nielsen research, the use of video games is up 22 percent in this group. I’m just curious, how many of you have game systems?

(Three raise their hands.)

Herman: I have it purely as a work resource. I don’t play any games at home. It’s something that I have to refer to. I’ll pick up a game that’s getting a lot of buzz and see what they are up to. It’s a keeping up with the Joneses type of thing.

Rob: I played video games in high school, I played games after I got married — in between there, I didn’t play games at all.

One of the things that’s said about this demographic is that men are brand loyal, and they develop their loyalties really early — everything from deodorant to beer brands. Is that true?

Theaster: There is a certain amount of loyalty I have toward certain products that I think are good — but I’m always dying for something or someone to wow me with a better material, a better transmission, a better sound.

Dave: If I find one thing that’s good, I stick with it. Like my Levi’s jeans; I’ve been wearing them since junior high, and I don’t plan on changing them anytime soon.

Some of the research shows that we are brand loyal, but we are less brand loyal than our Baby Boomer fathers. Do you guys see that or have any thoughts about why we might be more flexible in that loyalty?

Herman: My father is a Ford man. It was like a religion. And then when my mother got a Nissan and he saw that she wasn’t having constant repair bills, he eventually changed his tune.

Rob: I will buy whatever is shinier. I have a much shorter attention span than my father did. I will buy the new, new thing, not to be hip or trendy, but just to try something new and to be the first guy to have it, be done with it, and say “that’s old.”

Matt: We don’t maintain the same corporate loyalty our parents had. Maybe it’s post-Flint, Mich., phenomenon. Corporations, to a certain extent, have sold us out in the past, so perhaps we don’t really feel as indebted to them as a prior generation would. I don’t feel like Ford has any personal relationship with me, as much as they would like to believe.

Rob: My parents didn’t have superstores, Target and Wal-Mart — they had Bob’s Hardware.

When you are making your media consumption choices — buying books, going to movies, reading magazines — where do you get that information from?

Matt: I frequently just get recommendations from my friends on what to read. With the exception of a few magazines, I really don’t seek out anything independently, but rather someone will say to me, “Check out this Web site” and the next thing I know it’s on my [Internet] favorites list. I check that every day.

I usually sign up for different e-mail lists — like the Empty Bottle set list. I check Pitchforkmedia.com and other Web sites to see who is coming through town.

Theaster: I use The Reader [to find] gallery openings, movies, theaters, that kind of stuff.

Herman: Word of mouth has more of a power over my decisions than any type of advertising. Hearing from people you respect — your interests expand from there.

Rob: Conversely, if I know a guy is an idiot, and he tells me to go somewhere, I know I’m never going there.

Tam: I go to the Internet . . . you have the whole world. Everything is just now just a click away.

There has been a lot written about media consolidation. Are you aware of it? Has it affected your lives?

Matt: I know that you can’t go to a show or venue that’s over 2,000 or 3,000 capacity that Clear Channel hasn’t decided that you should go see. . . .

I don’t really know about Clear Channel as a company except that they are one really large voice, and that makes me skeptical to whether or not I’m able to maintain independent preferences because I’m constantly being bombarded by gigantic billboards.

But does anyone consciously try to keep track of, say, that Viacom owns Paramount and Paramount produces the “Star Trek” movies . . . ?

Theaster: There’s a passive impact. Four of the radio stations I turn to might all play the same music. One might consider itself a light jazz station, another might consider itself an R&B station.

There’s this kind of repetitiveness that happens and this particular media angle. It has the same kind of polish. And while we may not know who the owners are, there’s this same sort of indirect signal that tell you it’s one big company.

During the Janet Jackson Super Bowl controversy, when you heard that Viacom owns CBS and MTV, which produced the halftime show — then Viacom acts outraged at what happened . . . do you feel surprised by that?

Rob: It was cynically and obviously transparent. That was the worst, most obvious, insulting stuff. And not an insult because [of nudity], I mean, great, take your whole shirt off. They just started their own fight and there is no such thing as bad press. I don’t believe that they didn’t even know about it.

You can’t even say with a straight face, “Well, Viacom is really, really mad that we’re all talking about the Super Bowl.” C’mon.

Let’s talk about entertainment standards. A lot of what is on TV and in movies is directed at us — the Adam Sandler/”Jackass” style of humor. Are they capturing our tastes?

Rob: I like fart jokes just as much as the next guy, but I could never watch that show [“Jackass”].

Tam: That’s definitely aimed at us, because I went to see “50 First Dates.”

And it captured your sense of humor?

Tam: Not really. I pretty much went because my girlfriend wanted to see it. I saw “Jackass: The Movie” and it was funny, up until 30 seconds after the first bit. After the first bit, everything else was exactly the same.

If entertainment is a reflection of who we are, then we’re interested in partying, drinking and serial sex. We’re often portrayed as fun-loving, but not really deep thinkers. What do we think of this image?

Dave: I totally agree, from my age group. I’m a lot younger than you guys.

Rob: It’s something I can look at, giggle and not blink for an hour and a half. “Old School,” “Animal House,” that stuff is freaking hilarious.

Herman: I think it’s a one-dimensional portrayal. I think there’s an interest, a market for all this stuff. This is something you go to for an escape. You’ll indulge yourself and realize how stupid it is, but you just check a part of your brain for an hour and a half.

Matt: I would take issue with the assumption that movies are a reflection of ourselves. Much more so, they are an opportunity for escapism. I consider it to be a guilty pleasure.

Looking at your lives, and your media tastes, how would you say you’ve changed from 18 to the age you are now?

Theaster: I’m just becoming serious about my life choices and career. It’s just becoming serious to me, probably way too serious. As an entrepreneur, I find that I’m following architecture, art and all the subcategories that belong to those things. I follow those things because that becomes an analysis of this market I’m interested in.

I’ve switched from pure hedonism to this extremely focused, specific media that informs my business acumen.

Matt: I find I’ve just become more critical, more cynical and less interested in mass market media. Maybe because of some of the reasons Theaster said, because my interests have become more well defined. I’ve been able to fracture and experience media more specifically. The Internet has helped with that. Also, I’m less willing to tolerate things like National Geographic advertising SUVs.

Do you buy albums, download to MP3s? When are you more likely to do either?

Theaster: I have a fair amount of sensitivity toward the music industry, so I try to practice good habits. I will download an MP3, but I do it out of convenience. Also, I’d just as well buy the album.

Tam: I’m pretty much not buying albums. What’s the point of buying a CD, if I’m only going to listen to four songs? There are tons of underground sites where I can download tracks and albums.

Dave: I only buy five CDs a year, so I have no problem buying the album and supporting the band. I’m actually not that open to music.

What about movies and DVDs?

Theaster: I tend not to buy DVDs anymore. I find that I don’t watch them again. They become passive entertainment for other people. I rent good films from Facets.

Herman: I have more money now. I can finally invest and indulge in the things I want to.

I feel like I have to evangelize, in a sense. There will be films that I know a lot of people will pass up in a Blockbuster, or it might not be available in a Blockbuster. And I just want to share that experience with other people.

For example, “Amores Perros,” this film by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, it came out in Mexico a few years ago. Great film. It got some attention, but not enough. In a sense, my collection is for me, but also for the people around me.

When you see yourself in comparison to your parents, how are you different? What defines that generation gap?

Dave: I think our generation grew up a lot faster and a lot more aware than our parents’. Back in the ’60s, they had three channels to choose from. We have 8,000. Just in general, things are accelerated for us, and I think it totally impacts the way we grow up and see the world.

Rob: I’m willing to spend the money. I don’t care about money. My parents would research stuff to the point of exhaustion and say, “Well, that’s going to be obsolete in a year, so we’re not going to buy it.” I say, “Well, screw it, it’ll be obsolete in two months. I’ll buy it now, sell it for half-price, then buy the next new thing.” I guess I have a lot more turnover than they did. I call it the hard-cash culture versus credit.

Matt: I think our parents’ generation was just organized more top down, more vertically. You got married, you grew up in some sort of institutional religion and those institutions and structures that are handed down with them.

And I think if you were born after the Summer of Love, after women’s lib, then you’re in a society that is more horizontal. You have millions more choices, not only in what stuff you want to buy, but in who you want to be and what you want to do. There is no pressure for me to get married, ever. And not necessarily to a woman, and that’s just kind of a reality that is far different.

How do you get your news?

Tam: Usually CNN or C-SPAN, cable. I think the TV news is so watered down, you can’t really get the whole story, so I check around.

Rob: I’ve got about four minutes with WBBM-AM in the shower, on a shower radio, in the morning. And I have CNBC on XM radio on the way to work. Then I have CNBC on all day at work; believe me, that’s more news than I need.

Matt: I probably listen to National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition,” 30 minutes a day, when I’m getting ready for work. I usually read a magazine, The New Yorker or the London Review of Books, and then I’ll check CNN or a major newspaper if something major happens.

Herman: The Internet. I’ll click on CNN.com in the morning and then click around. I don’t get the paper; I don’t watch TV.

To check things, politically especially, I get it from whatever major news outlet and then go to someplace like Salon.com and get something that seems to be a little bit more non-partisan. A little bit more objective, or truthful, in my view. I just have an innate suspicion of the media, in general.

Is that shared by some others here?

Matt: I don’t know if it’s suspicion; it’s just that the biases are clear.

Rob: I take everything I don’t see with my own eyes with a grain of salt. I’d rather find out what the news is, go to four or five different Web sites, and see what everybody else’s take on it is.

All this stuff is being thrown at you — marketed to you. Are they hitting you?

Rob: No. I don’t feel like I’ve ever been marketed to. Again, this whole demographic group, everybody is so diverse, and we’re just developing our diversities. I think they’ve set themselves up to fail by grouping us into one category.

Herman: I think we’re all very aware of the machine too; we know when something is being pitched at us. That automatically turns me off. It’s such an obvious ploy.

– – –

MEET THE PANEL

We sat down with six Chicago-area 18-34-year-old men to understand the faces behind the statistics.

Who are these men?

More in News

Fiesta Back of the Yards offers ‘a safe place to come to and enjoy life’

Congress wonders as the Iran war draws to a close: Was it worth it?

1 killed after Russia strikes an apartment building in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv

President Trump tries to blame Reflecting Pool woes on vandalism, without offering substantiation

Share this:

More in News