Bloomberg Businessweek gets backlash on millennial campaign

Lucia Moses of Adweek reports that younger readers are upset with Bloomberg Businessweek over its recent campaign aimed at them.

Moses writes, “Many of the reactions to the campaign have focused on its insensitivity to the economic challenges facing millennials and the implication that they’re lazy. (Businessweek acknowledges in small type at the bottom of the campaign home page that ‘the woeful state of the economy is not their fault’ and that the intent is ‘not to blame them,’ but that message apparently was overshadowed by the rest of the campaign.)

“‘Imagine being 22, crushed under student loan debt, embarrassed about not being able to find a job or start your adult life and being served a pithy e-card that gleefully announces that your family thinks you’re a failure,’ wrote J. Maureen Henderson on Forbes.com. ‘Now imagine wanting to support the business that came up with the idea for the cards in the first place. That’s just poor marketing strategy on Bloomberg’s part.’

“‘The boomers have dropped a debt laden atom bomb on the millennials and others and for them to comment is offensive to say the least,’ wrote one commentator, Edwin.

“‘There no jobs to get,’ wrote mje. ‘There are three adults to one job open. That is typical for a recessionary period. However, the economy has been expanding for at least 47 months.’

“Others took issue with the implication that Gen Yers are just freeloaders.”

Read more here.