For generations, 40 has been the dreaded milestone in aging. It marked the edge of the map of youth, the point of no return on the downward stumble to crumbling old age. Adolescent behaviors and keeping options open could stretch through one’s 20s and into one’s 30s, but not into the 40s. Anyone in his or her 40s who hadn’t settled in to some form of genuine adulthood risked ridicule.

Protagonists portrayed in the movies, TV, and other mass media are overwhelmingly fresh 20-somethings and well-moisturized 30-somethings who could pass for younger still. Yet out in the real world, 40 and above is increasingly the norm as populations across the globe grow older. Already, 40 is the median age in Japan, and it will be in Europe by 2010. In the United States, the average age will continue to be in the upper 30s, thanks largely to the constant influx of younger immigrants, but even the U.S. is seeing a shift toward 40 as the norm.

There is an age shuffle, as 40-somethings behave as 30-years-olds traditionally have (partying, dressing provocatively, looking young and glam, having babies, traveling, and saving next to nothing), while more and more 30-somethings seem to be acting like traditional 40-somethings (worrying about retirement, mortgage payments, life insurance, marrying, and settling down). It’s almost as if men and women who grew up in the 1970s still feel entitled to have and do it all, while those who went through adolescence in the ‘80s have reacted against the excesses of that era and the decade that followed and decided to roll up their sleeves and get down to the hard work of being bona fide adults.

The world of rising 40s challenges businesses, brands, and marketers to rethink not just what and how they’re communicating, but their whole attitude toward age.
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