# The Download presents Generations, Interrupted — Getty Images

## Метаданные

- **Канал:** Getty Images
- **YouTube:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-j-zB0rnsM
- **Дата:** 17.06.2026
- **Длительность:** 1:02:38
- **Просмотры:** 253

## Описание

Generations tend to be misread and misrepresented—often reduced to clichés and memes. Boomers are labeled tech‑averse traditionalists. Millennials are seen as entitled and trend‑driven. Gen X is framed as self‑reliant digital natives. And Gen Alpha? It’s too soon to tell, but assumptions are already forming. 

For decades, marketers and media have simplified similarly aged groups into punchlines, and visual storytelling has followed—drifting away from reality and toward caricature. The result is content that speaks “of” people rather than “to” them, built on assumptions instead of lived experience. 

Join Tristen Norman, Head of Creative, Americas, and Melanie Velez, Creative Researcher, for a lively, cross‑generational discussion exploring new research on what truly defines generations today—and how to build visual strategies grounded in the real world we all live in, both because of and despite our age. 

00:00 Intro 
06:48 The State of Things 
13:17 The Ruthless Pragmatists 
26:04 Together, Apart 
36:39 More is More 
50:05 Final Thoughts 
52:32 Q&A

## Содержание

### [0:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-j-zB0rnsM) Intro

Hi everybody. We'll get started in just a few moments, but first a quick message about recent AI-related legislation and what that means for visual content from Getty Images. As AI-generated content becomes more common, transparency matters more than ever. In fact, New York's new AI transparency in advertising act, which took effect on June 9th, requires advertisers to disclose when AI-generated synthetic performers are used to portray real people in commercials. This new law and others like it align with what our own visual GPS research tells us. People want to know what's real, what's AI-generated, and whether the content they see can be trusted. Well, at Getty Images, trust is at the center of everything we do. That's why we take extraordinary steps to keep our creative libraries free of AI-generated content, actively working to identify and remove images that don't meet the standard, and give clear guidelines to our creators about what we do accept. But Jennifer, what about generative AI by Getty Images, you ask? Well, our generative AI model is trained exclusively on licensed and permission content from that same library. Meaning, anything you create with it is commercially safe and ready to use. Our goal is to make sure that AI is used in a way that's transparent and legally safe for our customers. Just remember, whether you need authentic imagery, AI-generated content, a combination of both, or guidance on how to best navigate the changing regulations around AI, Getty Images is here to help you create more confidently, protect your brand, and maintain trust with customers. Contact your Getty Images rep to learn more. All right, folks. The Download presents starts now. — Today on The Download presents, our creative researchers reveal the latest visual GPS insights into the myths and realities shaping generational identity. Why generational stereotypes miss the mark. Connecting with audiences across ages. And building more authentic visual storytelling strategies. Plus, we'll take your questions live in our Q& A. Now, here's the host of the download, Jennifer Kelly. — Hi, I'm Jennifer Kelly, senior customer success manager here at Getty Images welcoming you to this special edition of the download presents. Just a few housekeeping items before I throw it over to our presenters. As always, I want to give a special shout-out to all of our current Getty Images customers and thank you for your business. We truly appreciate it. Portions of today's program have been pre-recorded, but don't forget to drop your questions below and we'll answer them later in our live Q& A session. And yes, today's episode is being recorded. In a day or so, we'll email you a link to this session on our dedicated show page and feel free to tell your colleagues about it, too. All right, the house is kept. Here to lead today's session is our head of creative for the Americas, Tristan Norman. — Thanks so much, Jen. Hi everyone. As Jen said, I'm Tristan Norman and I lead the creative insight creative team, excuse me, uh for the Americas and I'm joined today by a fabulous researcher on my team. — Hi everyone. I'm Melanie Velez. I'm a researcher on the Amark Creative Insights team and I'm based in Mexico City. So, thanks for us today. — Love it and we're super excited to share new research, Generations Inter- Interrupted. So, when we started this work, me, a disaffected millennial, and Melanie, my favorite Gen Z'er, there were many bones we wanted to pick with how our generations are often written about and marketed to. But, of course, we're professionals, and one of the most exciting byproducts of this research is how much more was revealed to us than we bargained for beyond our own generational cohorts. So, what we hope today is that for this research is that it disrupts one or two long-held assumptions about all of the generations and reckons with what truly shapes them both in unique and shared ways. We're offering a new blueprint for visual strategies built on what we see as the strongest signals affecting the generations now. So, let's get into it, but first some housekeeping. So, everything you'll see throughout this research today is underpinned by a proprietary visual GPS methodology. We study what visuals the brands we work with are looking for and investing in and how those choices are connected to or disconnected from what's happening in the world of the consumers that they're trying to reach, i. e., humans. And we use that knowledge to influence change, whether it's through the content we're creating ourselves and making available in our libraries or inspiring a brand to take action on their own or whatever fun we're cooking up with uh brands directly. — Okay, so before we dive into the findings, let me quickly walk you through what's behind this research. We're talking about over 750,000 images and videos downloaded by US brands over a 3-year period. That gives us a really clear picture of what brands are actually choosing to put out into the world. On top of that, we analyzed more than 10,000 searches on Getty Images. So, we can not just see what brands picked, but what they're looking for. And to make sure we had the consumer side of the story, we also surveyed over 4,000 US consumers across generations. So, when we talk about generational trends today, it's grounded in real behavior, real searches, and real people. — We have a jam-packed agenda. We'll orient you with the state of the state, which will cover who the generations are, what do we get wrong as an industry about them, and where is that greatest opportunity for transformation and change by marketers, advertisers, and other storytellers. Then we'll dive into our offering of three key stories. Uh the ruthless one The first story is called the ruthless pragmatist. The second story is called together apart, which I'm going to talk you through both of those. And more is more um is what Mel will be sharing. And it's going to be fun, I promise. Then we'll wrap you wrap up with some final thoughts on the actions that you need to take now to make a change. So, in terms of the state of things, um

### [6:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-j-zB0rnsM&t=408s) The State of Things

you know, things are really complicated. There's no shortage of headlines about one generation or another. Plus, we're living in an endless cycle of bad news and chaos. So, wars, K-shaped economies, politics in general, amidst some fun news and chaos. Go Knicks. Um and also excited um for the US to be in the World Cup. It's important to take the realities of what it means to be at a certain stage of life alongside the state of the world. Both of these things have profound impacts on your lived experience, and it impacts how our lives look in very, very unique ways. But what do we get wrong when it comes to thinking about life stage and generational cohorts? Well, there's a lot there when it comes to how we discuss the generations as a culture. The misunderstandings have even become so normalized that intergenerational swiping is at an all-time high. See Gen Z's and Millennials on TikTok, the deep-seated beef between Millennials and Baby Boomers wears for some inexplicable reason. The reality is that there's a lot left out of conversations. One thing that happens is that we complete the typical occurrences of at certain stages of life with generational attributes. For example, research shows that people are generally less secure and certain of their identities and self sense of self when they're younger. So Gen Z's relationship to or perception of things like cringe isn't necessarily something to worry too much about. There's also this pathologizing and stereotyping that happens. See Millennials and avocado toast or Boomers not being tech-savvy or being too conservative. And finally, we really underestimate the influence of major societal shifts on all of the generation, which we'll talk about more in a bit. — Okay. Let's take a step back for a second and because before we get into the stories and the data, it helps just to get grounded on who we're talking about. We're looking at five generations that are all active consumers right now, which is actually pretty remarkable. So starting young, let's go to Gen Alpha. 13 and under, born into AI and touchscreens. They are still growing up, but already one thing is clear to them. Trust is a big deal and they're not just going to take your word for it. Then we have Gen Z, 14 to 29. They grew up on social media. They came of age during a pandemic and mental wellness isn't just a trend for them. It's a real priority. Then we have Millennials, 30 to 45. They remember life before the internet. They lived through 9/11 and a financial crisis and somehow came out incredibly adaptable, idealistic, but grounded. Then we have Gen X, 46 to 61, and honestly, the most underrated generation in these conversations. They're independent, pragmatic, and they figure things out on their own, and they still do. And last but not least, we have baby boomers, 62 to 81. They built the modern economy for me, and that shapes how they see everything. Okay, so we have five generations, five completely different life experiences. And up next, we'll look at the defining moments that made each of them who they are. — So what we know for certain is that what binds generational cohorts together, as Mel has covered, are the social and economic and political and technological events that are happening around key stages of development within their lives. Historically, it's what makes each generation distinct. But for the last 20 years, cataclysmic events, and I mean cataclysmic, um have blurred the lines of generational stratification. It's radically transformed and reshaped many generations simultaneously. For example, take 2008. So many things were happening. There was a global recession, and for Gen Xers and some young boomers, it's a devastating financial collapse. It creates an economic strife that's still being felt today. For millennials who were just coming of age, it's the first rupture of the broken promise of the American dream. The path was go to college, get a good job, get married, buy a home, build a comfortable life, and the whole contract was blown to bits immediately when many graduate with mountains of debt and are unable to find a job. And they never really fully recovered from that, despite being adaptable and idealistic. For Gen Zers, it's the world that they're born into. And at the same time, there's a uniquely shaping factor for Millennials. You have the election of Barack Obama, which shaped a sort of generational idealism that still persists today. And you can basically take any major event of the last 20 years and parse it with similar findings. So, you can look at Black Lives Matter and the protest, the global pandemic, which again affected many generations simultaneously, to the emergence of consumer-facing large language models like we see today. We need to start thinking much bigger than we currently are about the generations. — Okay, so given everything we just saw, all those defining moments, all that turbulence, it kind of makes sense you wonder, are we actually getting these generations right, or are we just recycling the same tired labels? Because here's the thing, the old playbook isn't cutting it anymore. The stereotypes, the tropes, they just create more distance than actual understanding. So, what we need is a fresh lens. And it comes down to the three things that cut across every generation. How we live, so what does daily life actually look like? How we relate, who do we turn to, who do we trust? And how we aspire, who do we actually care about? These aren't generational dividers, they're actually what connects us. And when brands start leading with these questions instead of just age brackets, that's when the conversation gets a lot more interesting, which is exactly what the rest of this presentation is about. And we're kicking it off with what we're calling the ruthless pragmatist. Tristan, I'll hand it over to you.

### [13:17](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-j-zB0rnsM&t=797s) The Ruthless Pragmatists

— Thanks, Mel. All right, we are in a moment of pre-peak pragmatism. Say that five times fast. Because there's not much people feel they can be hopeful for. How could they when everything is just so unstable and when the vibes are just bad. And with the recent news of the world's first trillionaires and this upcoming summer of mega IPOs, we're facing the most significant wealth gap we've ever seen. And so this hopefulness for the future that typically accompanies youth, that doesn't really exist anymore. In fact, it died a bit with millennials as I mentioned earlier, a generation that took hit after hit. Now, Gen Xers have always been pragmatic by the way. It's their natural orientation, but today it's become an absolute necessity and even the youngest among us, Gen Alphas, are also native to a necessary pragmatism that is amplified by a world heavily enabled by technology. So let's get into it. So what we always like to do is kind of start with kind of setting the stage of how we arrive at stories like these and what's behind the shift toward pragmatism is that for the first time ever, optimism about the future from Americans is on the decline. People don't feel like they're going to live better lives than the ones that they're currently living now. And this is something that we're seeing even in our own survey. So as Mel mentioned, we survey consumers around the world and we've been tracking how people feel about their future year after year and while it's been pretty evenly split between excitement and anxiety and there have even been times where excitement leads more often, in the last two years we've seen a shift in the opposite direction and what we want to know is what's driving this anxiety. Well, it's mostly coming from worries about our financial future. It's actually the highest priority of vote of focus for all generations, but especially for those in peak earning years like millennials as well as people who are securing their financial futures like Gen Xers and boomers. In fact, two in three believe that we'll live in a future where inflation makes everyday necessities unaffordable. And this financial pressure shows up differently for certain generations and it exacerbates that innate pragmatism, for example, of Gen Xers or introduces more pragmatic than approaches to life for the perennial idealists like our millennials. So, starting with Gen Xers, um you know, it's a complicated time of life for many people who are in their in their late 40s and approaching their 50s and 60s. They're caring for aging parents, so elder boomers or even the silent generation, um who may or may not have a financial safety net to cover the cost of their own needs. And that introduces a layer of financial strain. Additionally, many have their own children who are either entering adulthood, meaning they're preparing to attend college, um which they may be footing may likely be footing the bill on. Or as is also the case, they have children who are in their 20s and 30s who they may be helping alleviate their debt burden from student loans or providing a home base while they figure their lives out. Um and on top of all of that, that prospect of retirement is inching closer and closer, and many Gen Xers are still scrambling to build up a nest egg. Now, one would imagine that this would result in finances being at the tippy-top of the minds of a Gen Xer. Um but that's not actually the case or the entire story, at least not in the way that you think. They care, but it isn't the only thing that they care about. Um it's not the most important. We surveyed the generations about their perceptions of each other and the realities of their experiences, and despite many believing that Gen Xers are thinking about things like legacy planning or wealth accumulation or even financial strain, most Gen Xers say that these are not their top priorities. Instead, their relationships to their friends, their loved ones, their own health and well-being are the things that matter most to them. And the question is, is that reflected in how they're depicted in uh by brands and advertisers when it comes to visuals? The answer is, not quite. Um despite what we know about Gen Xers, most visuals tend to show them in incredibly one-dimensional ways. For example, more than half of visuals that feature a Gen X person shows them in an office or work setting. But that isn't the sum total of what they do with their lives, how they spend their time, or what's important to them. Our survey also uncovered that the most important thing in life for Gen Xers having more time with family, friends, and loved ones. And that family especially is central to the visuals that Gen Xers want to see for people over 50. Yet alongside Gen Z, by the way, they are the least likely generation to actually be depicted with their families. And it's not just about that. Very few visuals show them living full and active lives, having interests and passions and hobbies outside of just physical exercise. So this introduces our first opportunity for change. A change that we can make immediately when it comes to Gen Xers and story telling telling. Yes, they're pragmatic, but what they're pragmatic about is also making the best of their lives with their families and loved ones, not just living to work. There's so much more to who they are than what they do for a living or their financial concerns. And it's time to tell new stories with images like this one. A father in his late 50s with his daughter. They're ski bums. They're having a great time. So let's talk a little bit about another generation, millennials. Now, um how and why are millennials becoming ruthlessly pragmatic? Well, we've already covered a little bit of that of the why and the state of things. They graduated college during recession, they climbed and climbed the corporate ladder, and saw some reward but not much. And then significant rises in the cost of living, inflation, global pandemic, wars, layoffs, again, a cashed economy. Um there's been not much benefit to all of their sacrifice despite doing and achieving everything that was expected to them. And it's led to delayed and or totally foregone milestones like parenthood and homeownership, as well as general disillusionment that has led to an epic level of burnout. And it's all just feeling not great. So, you're seeing conversations across a variety of platforms like TikTok lamenting the state of their careers, the golden handcuffs of achievement, the daily grind of corporate America. Everyone is over it to be frank, and it's forcing a an important reassessment of their values and what's next what the next phase of their lives and what that should look like. And more millennials are embracing ideas of different types of careers like portfolio careers or fractional leadership, and other ways that they can just work to live for themselves and move on from the idea as corporate where you find life fulfillment. Kind of like So, and that's what you're seeing reflected from brands. They're also looking for stories about things like burnout on our site. And when we surveyed millennial respondents, they believe that their mental health is paramount and that success is about a life that's in harmony and being exactly who they are without compromise. But when you look at visuals and how this is specifically impacting visuals of millennials, there's kind of two ways that we're thinking about this. First, there's this expect expectation that whatever flexibility that is starting to exist in their work lives that they're creating for themselves is actually reflected in visuals. Working from home and taking breaks and enjoying meals all are a part of work-life balance that they're trying to achieve, yet we don't see that reflected in popular visuals that show millennial professionals. And while it's a positive thing to see millennials collect with their colleagues, what's left out when you are more likely to see them with their co-workers than their friends is the fullness of their lives, which this generation is in serious pursuit of more than ever before. So that brings us up to our next visual opportunity. Yes, there's an acceptance that their livelihoods are tied to what they do for a living. There's a pragmatism about the role that work serves to connect them to their dreams. That said, an identity beyond work is what millennials are now relentlessly in pursuit of, and that's what we need to see more of. Like this guy, who's in his late 30s, he's in the comfortable home he's made for himself, he is doing something meaningful to him, crocheting. Each their own. Last but not least, let's talk about Gen Alpha, um and how they are embracing pragmatism in ways we're not even thinking about. This generation, by the way, will be an interesting one to look at for many years for a variety of different reasons, but especially given that they are the only true digital native natives alive right now, period. Not Gen Z'ers, Gen Alpha. Their existence has only and always been in a hyper-connected world, a world ruled by smartphones and social media, and the mandatory nature of being plugged in. And that's what's resulted resulted in is a unique relationship to technology than their predecessors. They seek interactivity. They're comfortable with hybrid and adaptive tech experiences, and they actually expect their learning and their development to be more immersive and more visually rich as a result. And they'll have access to more information at their fingertips than any other generation. Um and so that that they're even teaching their parents, who are primarily millennials, about products and services that they want in their lives rather than the other way around. And they're calling the shots. So, question is, what does this mean for visuals? Well, we looked at popular visuals of Gen Alpha over the last uh several years. And when we look at that um what we tend to see is with kids under the age of 13, we don't see a lot of this independence and agency. In fact, we have seen only what we've seen over these years are these limited depictions, even if some improvement has been made. Almost always in school, even if it's a little bit more cheeky and conceptual like the one on the left, they're almost always on their own, and they're they're not actually actively learning or at play. Even with the one on the right, which was a popular visual last year. And when they are actively learning and playing, and especially interacting with any forms of technology like laptops and desk desktops in a school setting um or devices and tablets at home, a parent or a teacher is al- almost always supervising. Now, I'm not saying that that's not important. There are a lot of reasons this um for this that includes anxieties from parents and educators about things like screen time, attention spans, literacy rates, etc. But at the end of the day, the reality is that kids are living with these devices more and more, and school assignments they're being turned in online. Learning is happening in both tactile and digital ways, and we need to show kids with the agency and comfort we know they have with these devices in ways that are unique to the generations. So, our last opportunity as we see it is to embrace those early signals of pragmatism of our future. Gen Alpha, they're the most adapted technology than any generation that come before them, and we want to see that. So, that's it. When we think about the instability and the chaos of this moment, um you know, we've been thinking about it for many months, and if the economy is unstable, then everything in our world gets rocked. And in this case, it creates the need for a pragmatism that's not limited to one generation. For Gen Xers, they're ruthlessly pragmatic about what they're living for as they strive for stability in the here and the now. This doesn't mean that work or finances are important aren't important. It's that who and what they're working for matters more. So, choosing visuals that embrace um life as Gen Xers live it for who they are for their loved ones and that themselves is important. For millennials, it's about life being for living and that climb up the corporate ladder is less meaningful today than it was a couple of years ago. They're working to live. They're taking care of their mental health. They're embracing their true desires and finding meaning beyond achievement. It's about choosing what visuals that embrace that. And finally, for Gen Alpha, they're competent and capable in so many ways that are thrilling to see. Don't shy away from their tech-savvy nature. Lean into it with visuals that show them as empowered and made sharper with the help of technology on their own. It's pragmatic of you as marketers and advertisers to choose visuals that reflect people exactly as they are. They'll thank you for it. All right. I'm excited to share our next story

### [26:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-j-zB0rnsM&t=1564s) Together, Apart

what we're calling together apart. We wanted to explore what happens across the generations when a contemporary culture is built and amplified by platforms mediated by our devices. Is it all bad? On the one hand, maybe, probably. That's what the landmark civil suit against certain big tech companies seem to hinge on. And what good comes of a world like this though, if any? How are we finding ourselves being connected despite being increasingly further apart, both physically and metaphorically? What we know to be true is that relationships matter. Humans matter. And year after year, connection is the most the utmost priority of across generations despite headlines about us being more divided or feeling less hopeful or more pessimistic. Humans still care about each other. That said, it's also important to acknowledge how changed we are by the pervasiveness of these technologies. It's transformed how we build community, how we take in information, how we relate to strangers, and how we see ourselves. It's also created a major paradox around connection that is mediated by technology and platforms. On the one hand, many people who have spent their formative years on the internet, like many millennials, I was the first on many social platforms, Friendster, LiveJournal, MySpace, Blogspot, Tumblr. The list goes on. And I've certainly formed connections with people I haven't met in real life, some reciprocal, some one-sided. That's a para-social relationship, and more people are experiencing those, though only a few are admitting to them. Those relationships are not inherently bad or signs of something rotting in our social fabric, but it has created some toxic features within our culture through stan wars and the Inferno that can be a common section to trolling, to doxxing, and so much more. On the other hand, there's a lot of positive benefits to having these devices. As more and more of us move further afield from our homes of origin, and find love in new ways, and even search for community where there might not be one in close proximity. So, that's what we're sitting with, but certain generations may be navigating it differently than others. I'd like to start in an unexpected place with baby boomers. So, a stereotype that continues to plague the industry despite significant strides forward in the visibility of older people in their 60s and 70s, is one that assumes a lack of connectivity and tech-savviness amongst older adults. Sure, adoption and skill building took some time for those who were not native to using devices all the time and being on the internet, but it's here. More adults over 65 are online. They're using social media. The platforms might look different, but they're there. And an interesting opportunity is beginning to emerge with grandfluencers, so people in their 60s and 70s and 80s even building their profiles as influencers or creating themselves. And it thrills me that there are so many to name that it's hard to choose just one to creators on Instagram and Tik Tok. They're showing their life as they're living it in the moment and people really love to see it and it's not just by their peers by the way. Though it's important to take the size of their peers and the size of the generations reach and disposable income incredibly seriously. But they're being followed also by younger generations who love seeing content like this since it's rendering an experience that is often treated as mysterious to something or something to totally avoid. It's inspiring, it's illuminating and it's really important to a lot of people and I know more and brands are waking up to this which is why you see things like the Golden Bachelor Bachelorette as well as searches for visuals for seniors in a variety of contexts on our site. But when it comes to visuals especially videos and POV and other techniques that evoke these sort of social aesthetics what and I think these are clickable. They evoke these social aesthetics when it comes to demonstrating connectedness and a com- comfortability with technology. Those sorts of visuals are much less likely to be engaged with by brands. So that leaves a lot of opportunity on the table. There are a lot of cool ways to show more visuals of boomers as influential or even as influencers themselves. This is one of those stones that are desperately waiting to be turned over when it comes to visuals. All right. Let's talk a little bit more about boom that the fact that boomers aren't the only ones who are experiencing some new and interesting dynamics on platforms. Gen Z have found themselves in its own sort of reckoning with how platforms impact them and their mental health. Conversations about their need to touch grass um they do. Uh their mental health, the harms of social media, sorry Mel. They've been about for years. You have a generation becoming more and more conscious of how they want to experience life online. And what it's leading to is a world where they're using social platforms not as an end point, but as an essential tool to help for them to find IRL experiences and communities. People are craving the personal, whether it's in real life or online. They don't want the hostility and the division. They're trying to fully realize themselves and find places and people who are most in alignment to their interests, whether it's humor or sports fandom or lived experience or some other creative pursuit or even style and fashion, like these really cool folks on the screen. Um there's this amazing research by Ogilvy that really impacts this and the rise of fandom, which um you know, quick plug will be diving into more through the lens of sport later this year. Most Gen Zers identify themselves as fans. And this is reinforced in our survey as well. About 85% of Gen Zers say that they find the most joy in relationships that they're forming. It's just that as we've kind of alluded to, a lot of those relationships are mediated by technology with this IRL component optional. Yet visuals of Gen Zers leave these sorts of stories out. Um and you can see in some of these videos where people are online on live stream or showing um you know, some of their creations um that they're making. Um you're not you tend to see when it comes to visuals of Gen Zer this collected and very specifically styled um to sort of imagery which Mel will get into a in a bit of a group not really doing anything. They're just being young and cool. We don't see those shared interests or purpose or specific hobbies and visuals like these that show gamers and these content creators or even these queer birders who connected online but I but met up IRL because I don't think you can go birding on the internet quite yet. So in all seriousness, it's visuals like these that we need to see more of. So an opportunity as we see it is finding you know I think finding yourself is part and parcel of being a young person. It's just that Gen Z have a totally different landscape for doing so than the generations before them. So visuals like these like this one that is yes, it's stylish, it's colorful, it's Gen Z Gen Z'ers together but they're gathered around a clear shared interest or activity like a game night or and that's the sort of storytelling that moves the needle. And finally, I would say um the last generation we'll look at through the story is um the um another dynamic of our lives together and apart. There's no shortage of research on the power of influencers and creators despite our moralizing or performed skepticism about their influence. They are a powerful lever in how we make decisions about everything from products like clothing and home goods and supplements and foods and restaurants. The list goes on and on. And even new mechanisms of influence like podcasts have emerged in recent years. Like it or not, we're surrounded. And there's a generation that's more and more influenced than the originators of this particular career path, millennials. There's a lot of parts when it comes to millennials and influence um but there's a great there's no greater arena of life where influencers hold more power over this particular cohort than in travel. And this dynamic continues to reshape the travel industry because it's creating a very specific new preferences and spending habits with $200 billion in annual travel spending from millennials. It's something that you we should be taking very seriously, no matter what industry you're in. So, we asked the question, what does the typical travel visual featuring a millennial actually look like? And we found this that the most popular travel image last year um this it was this one. And it really reflects a broad trend when it comes to visuals. They're often not candid, they feel a little static, and they don't really induce the level of FOMO that we expect from our travel inspo. So, there's this clear opportunity for brands to show it differently. Yes, millennials are a little jaded and have been very online for very many years, but they still find connection and make decisions because they know people like them are making them, too. Travel imagery, it has to beckon. It has to call to you. It has to make you want to experience this yourselves, like this image of a foot race between friends at a luxury camp trip in Morocco. And by the way, if you think a foot race is not an authentic thing for a person in their 30s, um I'd urge you to go on TikTok and check it out. We like to feel still young again and see how fast we can go. It makes us feel like we can still do this stuff. So, what's life mediated by technology looking like today? Um for boomers, it's about embracing this new social era, creating social-ready posts and content that feel of the times and don't leave out an important and powerful group of spenders. For Gen Z'ers, let's not shy away from the ways in which they're finding themselves on and offline. Community and connection matters, and how that connection is enabled just looks differently now. And last but not least, for millennials, many of us um still do it for the gram, unfortunately, and it's a tie that binds us together. Choosing visuals that inspire your next vacation is what matters. So, show visuals that move that needle effectively. And now you get a break from me, thankfully. I'm passing it over to Mal to for our third and final story. — Thanks Tristan. Now it's time for our last story, more is more. This one

### [36:39](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-j-zB0rnsM&t=2199s) More is More

explores how living in a world of constant access has shaped the different generations, how they see themselves, and how they want to be seen. So think late-stage capitalism, endless choice, constant information, and non-stop consumption. So maximalism isn't just an aesthetic trend anymore, it's become a state of being. So more has become a language of identity. And yet, visuals haven't caught up. Brands are still relying on representations that don't fully reflect how people see themselves. And to understand why, we need to look at the world shaping all of us. So our relationship with information has changed dramatically. A hundred years ago, you waited for the news. Then came television, when everyone was watching the same thing at the same time. But today, it just it never stops. We have notifications, reels, feeds, headlines, just all at once, all day long. But it's not just the volume. For the first time, we're not only consuming media, we're creating it, we're sharing it, we're curating it. We're just inside that loop. And when people become part of the media ecosystem itself, how they define themselves becomes everything. Because that shift changes what feels trustworthy, what feels real, and in the end, how people want to be seen. And it all comes down to one thing, individuality. We asked Americans how much it matters to them, and 97% say it's important. And 62% say it's extremely important. And when we ask how they define it, the number one answer was pretty simple, just being yourself. But here's the thing, when we look at the actual visual landscape, what we see doesn't actually match what people feel. And what we see in visual is that brands are responding to that whole complexity in one of two ways. The first one is to simplify everything. So, everything is overly polished, overly controlled, and just stripped of personality. It's like as if the noise of the modern life gets so overwhelming that brands just repeat something safe. So, just like Tristan mentioned in the Together Apart story, we saw this with millennials in travel visuals, where everything is curated and just like picture perfect. And when with Gen Z in leisure visuals, we can see that it's just like one activity and one color palette. So, everything is clean and controlled, but just completely disconnected from actual life. Then there's the other extreme. So, trying to capture everything at once, every trend, every microtrend also, every small signal. Younger women style is normalized while older women style is exaggerated. And for Gen Z to even be considered cool, visuals need to lean into highly exaggerated choices for them. So, the result are visuals that feel performative rather than real. The question here is whether is not whether more belongs in visual culture because we know it clearly does. The question is, what does more actually mean for each generation? Okay, so let's start with boomer women because they're one of the clearest examples of more being redefined. For them, style goes way beyond fashion. It's become language for identity. And honestly, you can see this everywhere right now. In streaming, in fashion, magazines, social media, you name it. So, take Jean Smart in Hacks. I just I still can't believe it just ended after five seasons and season five was definitely the best one. Or also Pamela Anderson who's redefining beauty standards and showing up on just about every magazine cover imaginable. So, Vogue, Elle, People, Harper's Bazaar, just she's even starring in the latest Jacquemus campaign. And speaking of Jacquemus, he's also putting his own grandmother front and center in campaigns. And then there are TikTok communities like Advanced Style dedicated entirely to senior fashion and style pulling in more than 15 million views. So, that old script of how older women should look and show up, it's just it's gone. And it just makes sense. Boomer women have spent decades earning the right to stop performing for other people. Every single one in our surveyed agreed that living authentically is important to them. Everyone. So, authenticity isn't up for debate anymore. Other people's opinion just don't carry the same weight. They know who they are and they're done apologizing for it. And we're beginning to see visual culture respond. So, after years of highly stylized visuals, realistic settings are making a comeback. Following a decline around 2020, realism has steadily increased within fashion visuals for boomers. So, real environments are becoming part of what style looks like. But, there's still a gap. Many of these visuals are performing reality rather than capturing it. The setting may feel authentic, but the people and the moments of often remain highly constructed. They're polished versions of authenticity. Brands are interpreting more as more refined instead of more real. So, the opportunity is pretty straightforward to just show her as she already is. Confident, authentic, effortless. Her style isn't something she's still working toward or something she needs to shout at across the room. It's proof of a fully lived life. Okay, now let's jump to Gen Z. This generation has a completely different expression of more. So, let's start with the rise of the word creator. So, bear with me. I promise it will make sense in a second, but in the internet, creator was simply just another term for influencer. But, it stuck because it captured something bigger. So, they almost every Gen Z creates, whether it's for a thousand followers or just a close circle of friends. Their approach is often messy and experimental, but just deeply personal. They connect details and moments and then they just piece them together either for a photo dump or a finsta story or even a physical photo album where you're seeing interest in film photography, and other hands-on experiences like collaging that allow them to go offline and feel more connected to the world around them. So, one thing is clear about Gen Z. They don't want a filtered version of reality. They want a full version of it. They ask for authentic content, and they define it as genuine and true. And honestly, it just it makes sense. When you have grown up capturing reality yourself, you know exactly when something's being manufactured. When we look at visuals, we see that representation hasn't really caught up. Brands are still stuck on outdated ideas of what reality should look like. Messiness rarely appears in Gen Z visuals, often because it still has a negative perception, and film aesthetics appear even in less in visuals. When they're used, it's limited to actual vintage photography. So, the result are visuals that often feel like a PG version of the reality Gen Z's creating for themselves. And the opportunity is clear for us to show Gen Z the way they already show themselves. So, layered, chaotic, and unpolished. So, bedrooms and hangouts with little clues about who they are. Sometimes in the background, sometimes right in front The mess isn't a flaw, it what makes the image feel real. So, every detail is part of the story. And the second opportunity is emotion. Right now, it's important for Gen Z to romanticize everyday life. It just it gives them agency over their reality. So, think modern nostalgia. This type of visuals don't just help document a moment. They amplify how it feels. It's about turning ordinary moments into memories before they even happen. And our final section is reserved for younger adults. So, millennials and Gen Z under 40. The previous story Together Apart already established that they're the generations most immersed in digital life. Much of their social world exists online and they're shaping how they build relationships, how they express themselves, and how they move through everyday life. But what stands out isn't just how much time they spend connected, it's the intensity of it. Their identities are shaped through continuous flow of digital interactions, where more connection also means more influence, more pressure, but more possibilities. But despite all that connectivity, what they want most for their future is pretty simple. We asked about their biggest life goal in our consumer survey, and the top answer was meaningful relationships and real human connection. And that's where the paradox shows up. Because yes, these generations are more connected than ever, and yet they have never felt more alone. So, when we turn to visuals instead of reflecting real connections, we still see a very reserved idea of togetherness. And that reinforces the fear young adults already have about connecting in real life. Here we have the top visuals for community featuring adults in 2015, 2020, and 2025. We went from symbolic to adding a little bit more detail, but still constructed. And the latest, yes, we see more interaction in the frame, but it's still pretty much staged. So, the idea of community is there, the feeling of connection, it's still missing. So, what does that mean for brands? These audiences have already experienced connection intensely. We know that from their online presence. So, the job isn't to manufacture that feeling, it's to reflect how we translate into real life. So, think shared experiences, inside jokes, messy unscripted moments, just real evidence of relationships that actually exist out there. And the opportunities to bring more emotional depth to visuals and show connections as these audiences actually live it. Okay, so what does all of these mean visually? Across these three stories, there's a common thread. More doesn't mean more polished, more exaggerated, or more performative. It means more real, more self-defined, and more human. For boomer women, just show style as an extension of a fully lived life. Confident, stylish, and completely authentic. For younger adults, just embrace the layers and beautiful messiness of real life. The chaos, the experimentation, the imperfections that shapes identity. And those messy unscripted moments that actually build real friendships and that build community. And for Gen Z specifically, just lean into nostalgia. Use it to amplify emotion and bring a sense of wonder and dreaminess to the present. And the is to give people more of not more of everything is to give them more of what actually matters. And on that note, Tristan, I'll hand it back to you for some final thoughts.

### [50:05](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-j-zB0rnsM&t=3005s) Final Thoughts

— Yay! We've reached the end. I know that was a lot, but I hope it was time well spent and you enjoyed. Um if we leave you all with anything at all, um it is that it's time to rethink how we approach the generations in your storytelling. Um we still believe that there's utility in looking at them seriously as an industry. We have to also continue to challenge assumptions, to not shy away from making bold and unexpected choices based on the strong signals that actually matter and reflect the world as it really is now. So with that, I leave you with one of my faves, the most incredible picture I think personally to live in our libraries, a true intergenerational find that also connects, I think, to our next question, one of our first questions from the audience. — Thanks, Tristan and Mel. Get your questions ready. Live Q& A is just moments away. We'll be back right after this. — Yeah, sure. I can as we sort out some technical difficulties. I can read the question and then answer. So, what

### [52:32](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-j-zB0rnsM&t=3152s) Q&A

does your research reveal about how interactions between people of many different age groups are depicted? Do we ever see friend groups made up of boomers, Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z or people of varied ages usually depicted only as family groups. I ask because I'm Gen X and but have friends who are boomers, millennials, Gen Z, and so on and I know I can't be the only one. Well, the answer is yes, we see a lot of that. In fact, when I talked about our the in together apart, one of the biggest things why I started with the baby boomers storytelling was how influential seeing baby boomers who are content creators and influencers themselves are to people of all generations backgrounds because this is the sort of storytelling that they're clamoring to see. They want not to just see baby boomers and other generations and older folks. They also want to be in connection to them. So, there is a really strong opportunity to tell more intergenerational stories because like you, I experienced those things as well. All right, our second question. What is a good way to un-problematically show the realities of how wide the wealth gap is now? Yes, we love not being problematic. Mel, do you want to take that? — Yeah, of course. Um I think that something we touched on the research was that just being truthful is really important to everyone right now. We all know which are the bad things that are happening. We can see how they are impacting our lives. So, just covering them up and pretending they're not there, that's not maybe the right call. So, just going for true depictions and trying to choose also like characters or models inside your visuals that actually reflect real people. Like we want to feel like we can relate. — I would just add to that we actually have some forthcoming research in the financial services industry. And one of the big things we cover is a I've mentioned multiple times K-shaped economies. We talked about the ways that there are multiple paths to wealth. And one of the big opportunities across the board that we tend to see is to showcase those different paths to wealth. So, even showing different lifestyles and jobs, different class um and Like that's the reality of what where how people live today. And those reality again, all of these insights can apply across those the different sort of stratifications of wealth and lifestyles lived. — Perfect. And ladies, I'm back. — Hello. — In case anyone was wondering if this is live, it definitely is complete with tech issues. So, let me Thanks for taking over, but let me jump back in here. I have another question for you ladies. What groups of people make up Getty's survey audience and who is Getty polling? Just curious where that data is coming from. — I love this question. Um it's something we get asked about quite a bit. Well, we do a regular consumer survey. We work with a market research partner. They survey seven approximately 6 to 7,000 consumers worldwide. We're in around 25 different countries, 13 different languages. And one of the things that are incredibly important to us is to get a good representative cross-section of each of those different countries. So, we're also controlling for things like different demographic identities, like race and ethnicity, where we can collect that data. Um but we are GDPR compliant as well as um you know uh things like gender um and generations. We also pull um slice and dice by generations as well as where you live, urban or rural, or in other places it's village versus city center and so on. — Perfect. And everyone keep those questions coming in the live Q& A below. Uh I'm going to throw this one out to both of you. It's very timely. How does Gen Z respond to photos using AI since they're so into authenticity? — Going to punt that one. — Melanie, do you want to answer? Um as a Gen Z um but also like something that we have seen on our survey and on research is not just me. Um we can see that AI is seen more like as a tool and a tool that can also help us, I don't know, build memes, just go crazy on the internet and just like build everything from zero. It's just that. It's another tool. I think what we have been talking about inside our team is that maybe before this was Photoshop. Like it's the new amazing tool. Yes, we're like everyone's using it right now. It's really easy to use, really accessible. But when it comes to telling real stories, there's one there's a gap like a lot like most Americans, but I think I can say that most consumers like can recognize when something is not real and when something is AI. And that just like ta- takes the edge off just having real authentic representation. — Yeah, they're the most excited about AI as a tool and yet they also still demand authenticity in the same way as most consumers do for sure. And we can help you with both. We've got authentic photography and I'm going to plug our AI imagery tool as well. So reach out to your rep if you have questions about that. Um little plug there. All right, ladies. Here's the next one. Can you reiterate the billion dollar stat about travel for millennials? Did I hear that correctly? — You surely did. They spend approximately 200 billion dollars in annual travel spending. It's where all of our research is going and in fact it's largely in part because we're trying to we're working to live and we're working for these experiences and trying to live a life that feels much more fulfilled than sitting at our desk every day. — Perfect. And as a Gen Xer I do say I have hobbies by the way like you mentioned in your presentation. Ghost hunting. Taylor Swift, is that a hobby? Anyway. Uh all right. Next question. You talked about how boomer women are expressing themselves through style. What considerations should visual storytellers keep in mind when they are representing boomer men? — I think well, I would start with saying that we one of the examples that I showed in terms of the opportunity to tell more stories that are sort of reflect social aesthetics that need to be including boom baby boomers period people in their 60s, 70s and even early 80s and one of the images that I chose as a reference was the coolest baby boomer ever gets suspenders. He had this like camel top on he had these really cool glasses and a watch and so style is just as important to them and a real key lever of consideration as you're making visual choices for men as you are for women. — Style has no age or gender. — Correct. — All right. How can you depict the authenticity spoke about in work settings that is bound by rules and policies? — Ooh, I can take it this one. One thing that we saw on research was that all these little moments of coming into work and out of work are actually really telling. So just coming in saying hi to your co-workers, just leaving your stuff, all those little tiny moments just help bring authenticity and it's not just another person on their desk with their computer. — Perfect. Love it. It looks like we have time for just one more. How can you depict the authenticity you spoke about Oh, sorry. That's the one I just asked. So I guess that is the end here. Um We'll wrap up here everyone. Um thanks for submitting your questions. Answers to anything we didn't get to will be followed up within the next week and I want to thank our amazing presenters who just go with the flow Tristan and Mel. As a As a reminder you can catch all episodes of the download presents and premium access live on demand over on our dedicated show page. If you have any questions about visual GPS or anything that we've covered today, contact your Getty Images representative or email us at the download@gettyimages. com. As you exit today's session, you'll be asked to answer a few brief poll questions. Please take a moment and let us know how you like today's program and what kind of topics you'd like us to see like us to cover on future episodes. Thank you once again for being a Getty Images customer. We truly appreciate your business. Whether you're a boomer, a millennial, a Gen Z'er, I've been your host Jennifer Kelly, and we'll see you next time on the download.

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*Источник: https://ekstraktznaniy.ru/video/53417*