Gen X's power era

A 2025 Ipsos report points out that Gen X are the highest-earning demographic in the United States. And when it comes to inherited wealth in the U.S., wealth management firm Cerulli Associates predicted in 2025 that “over the next decade, Gen X households are expected to receive nearly $1.4 trillion, on average, annually as part of the ‘great wealth transfer.’”

Yet much like the Baby Boomer generation before them, brands are slow to understand this audience. Most marketing spend skews younger, while Gen Xers are often lumped into a catchall 50+ category, spanning multiple generations. Illustrating this, a 2026 report by Curion found that fewer than 7% of consumers aged 50 and older agree that brand messaging is often authentically designed for their demographic, EMarketer reports. This is even as those aged 50 and older reported increasing their spend across categories spanning food and beverage, health and wellness, and beauty and personal care, the same study found, with the majority of those increasing their spend women aged 54 to 64 with annual household incomes of above $75,000.

At a Glance

$1.4 trillion

The wealth U.S. Gen X households are expected to inherit over the next decade - Cerulli Associates

At a Glance

Percentage of consumers aged 50 or older who agree brand messaging is often authentically designed for their demographic - Curion

Ironically the current wave of 90’s nostalgia has Gen Z-ers and millennials hankering after the pre-smartphone, sometimes hedonistic culture that’s associated with Gen X’s heyday. As millennial Daisy Jones writes in Vogue, “some of the coolest people to ever grace the planet are Gen X: Chloë Sevigny, Alexander McQueen, Winona Ryder, Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss,” she notes, adding that “for a generation that so often goes unmentioned, they sure are everywhere you look.”

And re-examining Gen X artists’ work for a new era is the exhibition Gen X: Tales from the Forgotten Generation, which runs at Athens’ DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art from June 18 through November 26. Spotlighting works from artists born between 1960 and 1980, including Douglas Gordon, Tim Noble & Sue Webster, and Olafur Eliasson, the exhibit considers how the artists “responded to [the culture’s] seismic shifts with varying degrees of sincerity, irony, and even cynicism,” the gallery states, adding that with Gen X “often described as the ‘slacker’ generation, [their work] combined lowbrow aesthetics, self-deprecation, and a healthy disregard for convention.”

A smattering of brands are tapping that Gen X cool, too, from 58-year-old Pamela Anderson whose recent appearances include in lifestyle brand Aerie’s newest campaign and as an ambassador for hair care brand Biolage, to 51-year-old Pedro Pascal who was recently appointed a Chanel ambassador. But these are broadly the exception, not the rule.

Biolage x Pamela Anderson - a blond Pamela Anderson smiles at the camera, wearing a white shirt and leaning her head on her elbow.

A vintage 1980s image of a couple kissing by some railings.

1. Pamela Anderson for Biolage, courtesy of Biolage. 2. Douglas Gordon, Monument for X, 1998(video still) © the artist; courtesy of the DESTE Foundation

Karen McKinley is the cofounder and CCO copy at Geezer, a US agency that has zeroed in on the “massive opportunity” that the 50 plus market represents. McKinley tells VML Intelligence that the idea to start the agency was partly prompted by the ads she was getting targeted with as she approached 50.

“They were saying 50 plus… yet they were showing somebody who's clearly in their late 70s or 80s,” says McKinley. “I think what [brands have] gotten wrong is they've never changed…they've kept the demographics, but they never altered the psychographic.” McKinley also points out the irony of the 18 to 25 target market spanning a mere six years, while 50 plus is defined as a single demographic. “There’s like three or four different generations in there,” she says. This is reflected too in stock imagery, which tends to portray women of up to about 40 and then focuses on those who appear to be in their 70s, with Gen X in between conspicuously absent. Indeed, research by Australian rewards brand Citro found that 51% of Gen X Australians feel “mostly or completely invisible in Australian media, politics, and public discussion.”

While brands look elsewhere, recent reports note that Gen X is making its mark in key categories, from travel to fashion, to beauty. In April, CNBC cited Circana data that found that households with members of Gen X accounted for 44% of total dollars spent on beauty in the year to 2026, with skin care the top category. Beauty brands with Gen X appeal are gaining traction, including Bobbi Brown’s direct to consumer brand Jones Road Beauty, set to register over $200 million in revenue this year according to Puck and Sarah Creal Beauty, which is one of the fastest-growing new lines at Sephora, seeing double-digit growth. It's a shift that practitioners are watching closely. McKinley points to Ulta and Sephora as the retailers leading the way, alongside those brands putting Gen X faces in campaigns and on runways.

We’re dealing with the same things, but we're not the same people. So if you want to connect with us and make your messaging relevant, you have to throw away your old playbook.

Karen McKinley

Cofounder and CCO copy, Geezer

Her advice for brands is to rip up the rules: “We’re dealing with the same things [as previous generations], but we're not the same people. So if you want to connect with us and make your messaging relevant, you have to throw away your old playbook.”

She notes that in the US, many Gen X no longer had traditional pensions but instead shifted to 401Ks and are now perhaps pivoting in their careers. This, she says, means financial services and higher education categories are ideally placed to target this demographic.

“That makes for a huge opportunity for a lot of brands, to tap into reinvention, 50-somethings, saying, ‘okay, well, if we're getting aged out of our careers, what's next?’” says McKinley. “There’s so much opportunity there. You've got a group of people that may not have enough to retire, but they may have some money to pivot and start their own business. Or reinvent themselves or go back to school.” (See Transformative experiences in the Future 100: 2026 for more on transformations.)

Why it's interesting

As Gen X enters its peak years of wealth, it's clear they are distinct from the generations before them — in terms of their tastes, priorities, and how they view aging. The message to brands is simple: catch up. "Everything is evolving… and I just think if you want to hit an age group, you should really learn who they are right now," says McKinley. "Not from your assumptions of who they are from 30 years ago."

Main image: Unsplash, Center for Ageing Better