A Psychographic Analysis of Generation Y College Students

Generation Y is regarded as the elusive new youth market, whose members are as resistant to advertising efforts as were members of Generation X before them. To investigate various factors that influence the use of advertising among the college segment of Generation Y, a survey was administered to a random sample of 368 college students. Questions probed self-identity, relevance of depictions in the media, and the informational value of advertising across eight media. Results show that gender and a variety of personality traits such as introversion/extroversion affect both the perceived value of advertising as an information source and the relevance of depictions in the media. Depictions in movies and television were rated significantly better than depictions in advertising. Implications are drawn for both media planners and marketing strategists trying to communicate with this elusive group