One of this year’s biggest catchphrases is a response to generational strife – and now features on a huge range of merchandise

‘OK boomer': how the Gen Z retort of 2019 has been monetised

Name: OK boomer.

Age: OK boomer.

Appearance: OK boomer.

Stop saying that! Sorry, I just wanted to give you a taste of this annoying new craze.

What new craze? Saying “OK boomer” as a dismissive riposte to anything said by someone over 30.

Well, er, mission accomplished. Who is doing this? It’s mainly Generation Z.

Are they the millennials I keep hearing about? No, Gen Z are younger. Basically they are the under-30s, people who grew up with social media. Many of them have started saying “OK boomer” this year on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.

Are there any over-30s on TikTok to hear them? Perhaps not. But the message is getting out nonetheless.

And what is the message exactly? Kind of a weary shrug, as if to say that older people don’t understand what it is like to be young.

Isn’t that exactly what young people always think? Yes, although Generation Z do have some specific grievances. Housing is very expensive for them, for example. Older people also tend to vote for Trump and Brexit, and some seem content to ignore climate change, which young people will have to deal with.

Yeah, that stuff is annoying. Then again, baby boomers grew up much poorer, with corporal punishment, polio, racial segregation, high unemployment, the cold war, and being forced to fight in Vietnam. So, you know, they had their gripes as well.

OK boomer ... Is this Gen Z motto like their version of “Make love, not war”? Kind of. It’s also a merchandising opportunity.

Sorry, a what? A number of young people have already found a way to monetise this moment by selling hoodies, T-shirts, mugs, phone cases and other goods with “OK boomer” printed on them.

That’s, um, enterprising. And often quite successful. Nina Kasman, an 18-year-old student, told the New York Times that she plans to put the money she makes selling “OK boomer” merch towards her college fees.

Isn’t this what the hippies would have called “selling out”? Not in Kasman’s view. “The reason we make the ‘OK boomer’ merch is because there’s not a lot that I can personally do,” she says. “There’s not much I can personally do to restore the environment, which was harmed due to corporate greed of older generations.”

Is it good for the environment to generate a lot of merch that no one really needs? Shush.

Do say: “Resist our evil grandparents! Just like they did!”

Don’t say: “What was wrong with that nice mannequin challenge, which we used to do in my day?”

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