A favorite headline for many publications these days blames millennials for ‘killing’ various industries, from chain restaurants to gyms to paper napkins.
The line has become so ubiquitous — and frustrating for millennials themselves — that one decided to round up a bunch of them for a satirical collage.
‘I wanted to make a memorial of all of our destruction and the confusion we cause Boomers on a daily basis,’ Regan, from Austin, Texas, explained on Reddit.
Destructive generation? A woman named Regan from Austin, Texas made this collage out of headlines that accuse millennials of killing different industries and concepts
Regan first took to Twitter to announced that she was playing around with the idea of a collage in late July and started working on it in August.
‘I’m going to put all of the headlines surrounding a picture of avocado toast,’ she added, winking at the stereotype that all millennials are obsessed with avocado toast.
She didn’t have trouble finding headlines for the poster, most of which she finds ‘hilarious’. She spent about two hours total putting it all together.
‘I have no idea why most of these articles are a thing,’ she said.
Her favorites include ‘Now millennials are killing marmalade’, ‘Why aren’t millennials having sex?’ and ‘Millennials are killing a $1 billion diet staple’ — the latter of which, she explained, is ‘literally an entire article about how we’re killing low-fat yogurt’.
The headlines, which appear to come from several different publications, accuse millennials of killing the beer industry, the ‘running boom’, Big Macs, credit, focus gorps, chains like Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebees, the 9 to 5 workday, the idea of serendipity, the dinner date, and ‘relationships’, in general.
Ridiculous: The young woman thinks the headlines are ‘hilarious’ and set them up surrounding a piece of avocado toast
Seriously? She was particularly struck with headlines that blame millennials for the hurting marmalade and low-fat yogurt industries
According to the lines, millennials are ‘ruining’ hotels, brunch, the workforce, handshakes, and the Olympics.
They’re also killing the McDonald’s McWrap, crowdfunding, fabric softeners, Home Depot, lunch, the car industry, ‘class’, gyms, the Canadian tourism industry, J.Crew, and both ‘America’ as a whole and the American Dream.
The oil and gold industries, hotel loyalty programs, cereal, the ‘hangout sitcom’, department stores, vacation, the NFL, fashion, the movie business, and the wine cork are also apparently dead, and it’s the fault of millennials.
Though Regan said she finds the headlines funny, many others who’ve come across her work are far more annoyed and frustrated with this trend.
Several have pointed out that it’s unfair and shows a lack of responsibility to blame millennials for killing an industry, rather than blaming the industry for failing to adapt to a changing society.
Shifting blame for failure: Supporters have pointed out that millennials aren’t ‘killing’ anything; industries are failing to adapt
Times are a’changing: Others have joked that it’s older generations blaming younger generations for not liking the same things they do
New age: A few have weighed in about other things millennials are ‘killing’
Just blame it all on them: Others pointed out that some will find a way to blame literally anything on the youngest generation of adults
Pick a side: Contradicting headlines blame millennials for lots of things
‘Every one of these should be changed to “(industry) is dying from failing to adjust to changing demographics,”‘ one Redditor pointed out.
‘You have to be pretty darn entitled to blame your customers for not liking your product or service enough,’ added another.
Others have pointed out that some of the industries are suffering not because millennials are choosing not to spend money on them, but because they can’t afford to.
‘I think it basically comes down to “Millennials don’t have the disposable income of the previous generation,”‘ someone else said. A few people on Reddit also noted that they’d love to own homes, go to the movies, and go on vacation— they just can’t afford to.
‘The general sentiment of saying that millennials are “killing” industries belies the underlined sad truth that, in fact, industries turned their back on millennials. Framing it as a failing of millennials allows us to not think about the economic system that we live under. Society wouldn’t look the way it does right now if that wasn’t true,’ one commenter wrote, mentioned college debt in particular.
Fans? Regan is also offering the collage printed on a T-shirt
‘The “Millennials say the American Dream is Dead? They killed it” one infuriates me and I’m not even American. What a blatant refusal in accountability and nuance,’ wrote another commenter.
‘”Will millennials kill home ownership?” should read “Baby boomers killed the housing market,”‘ said one more.
There’s also the implication that each of these industries that’s dying — from fabric softener to golf — is ‘good’, and millennials are wrong for not liking or needing them, or preferring something else.
Still, a few were able to find some humor in the situation. Joked one: ‘Can my fellow millennials let me in on the secret meeting place where we decide what to kill next? I’ve got some ideas.’
‘If all the millennials died to today then tomorrow’s story would be “How millennials are driving up funeral costs,’ darkly joked another.
Some people have also taken to Twitter to share their thoughts on the ‘millennials are killing…’ headlines, and Regan has put a print of her collage on a T-shirt, available online.