When we think about activism and purposeful consumers, certainly the generation that comes to mind most readily is Gen Z, representing late teenagers and the youngest adults. We have heard, again and again, that Gen Z is the cohort that is demanding that brands take on causes – and a great deal of evidence agrees with this conclusion. But in light of our focus on how brands are doing, Gen Z showed a different side of itself in our study.
Across all three issues covered, as well as on the general sense that brands are making a difference, Gen Z often posted the lowest scores. They:
were most likely (of all generations) to not name a single purposeful brand unaided (in terms of overall making a difference)
gave lowest ranks to most of the prompted brands included in the survey
posted the lowest sincerity scores across all prompted brands
In fact, this is not a complete surprise; in our latest Green Gauge® study from GfK Consumer Life, Gen Z
scored below average when it comes to environmental attitudes
was more likely to say they “know little” about environmental issues
proved more skeptical of the idea that companies have a responsibility to care about the environment.
And a deeper analysis shows that, in fact, there are two distinct groups within Gen Z, pulling the cohort in different directions. When we look at 18 to 21 year olds, they are much more likely to not name purposeful brands (see Table 6) and to give poor grades to specific named brands.
All ages
Gen Z
Younger Gen Z (18 to 21)
Older Gen Z (22 to 24)
39%
48%
54%
41%
57%
61%
66%
56%
Since our study puts social causes into the context of brands from the start, our findings reflect not just Gen Z’s feelings about issues, but their complex reactions to products and companies that are trying to make a difference – with uncertain motives.