It has been decades since expectant parents felt compelled to paint the nursery walls baby blue for boys and cotton candy pink for girls. But gender-specific marketing can be a huge turnoff for many shoppers–particularly Millennials and the cohort behind them, Gen Z. Both have proven to be the most gender-bending consumer groups to date.
Generations Y (the Millennials) and Z exhibit an evolving and fungible view of what it is to be masculine and feminine, in part because of economic realities that are putting men and women on more equitable career paths. What’s more, they are growing up in an era of increasing tolerance for non-traditional gender identities.