A couple nights ago, while watching AC360, I heard this phrase for the first time – Generation ‘O’.
As in, the generation to follow ‘X’, which was preceded by the babyboomers.
Hmmm … I wonder what the ‘O’ stands for? I promptly decided it was for ‘Online’ and forgot about it. That kind of makes sense doesn’t it?
But it doesn’t … (before you click through to the next page—> what do you think it stands for? Don’t answer yet, wait until the end … )
‘O’ = OBESE
Did you guess that? I wouldn’t have …
You see, I took this picture today:
As I was piling them up for the photo, I was reading the little sayings and surprized at the new additions. I am pretty postitive they didn’t say, “TEXT ME” and “DOH!” back in the day. It’s the same ‘ole candy, for a NEW generation.
I laughingly thought they were marketing to Generation ‘O’ (online), but soon discovered after a google search that it’s Generation OBESE and many countries are encouraging advertisers not to entice young people to eat junk food. Food for thought, eh? (Pun intended).
On a lighter note, I wonder if there is a ‘Love Hearts Sayings Committee’? Do they meet each year to come up with new hip slogans? When they add a new slogan, must they axe another? I want to know who ixnayed ‘BE MINE’ in favor of ‘DOH’!? And where may I ask is ‘MY BFF’? Don’t be stealing that one Love Hearts. I’m watching you!
So what did you think the ‘O’ stood for?
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MK xo
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February 8th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Really? It stands for Obese?! It makes sense…but I actually thought your online guess made sense too. EVERYONE is online it seems…however, not everyone is obese…oh well. And yeah…I don’t remember those love hearts saying “text me” or “doh” either. I don’t think we could even text people on cell phones when I was in high school! haha. ;)
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February 8th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
I actually thought maybe it stood for “one” or “other” or “we couldn’t come up with a better letter and this one is next in the alphabet”.
Obese is kinda harsh.
And I don’t know about anywhere else but here there are a whole lot of extremely NOT obese young ladies… weird.
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February 8th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
I thought it stood for “ONE” as in they are self centered and only worried about themselves.
Great pic by the way!
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February 8th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
What does DOH have to do with Valentine’s Day or even love? Unless you’re Marge.
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February 8th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
This is the first that I have heard of Generation “O”. I would have thought Online rather than Obese, though :)
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February 8th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
obese is pretty bad
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February 8th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Hey … I was just digging around on AC360.blogs.cnn.com and I discovered that when Anderson Cooper was refering to Generation O, he was referring to young voters who are supporting Barack Obama.
“Generation O” was the name of a series of fundraising and networking events hosted nationwide in support of Sen. Barack Obama.
Read more here: http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/02/06/generation-o-rocks-the-vote/
DOH!
***
It is also used to describe the generation of children and young adults who are showing a highest ever rate of obesity, in turn exposing them to health risks including diabetes and heart disease. (It’s just not what was being referred to on the news).
I am still amazed that the WHO estimates that more than 1 billion people in the world are obese (I am getting close myself) ... WOW! I am going to make an even greater effort to feed my kids properly and make sure our house is FREE of unhealthy food.
February 9th, 2008 at 2:12 am
wow, i had no idea it would be for obese. wow.
and no kidding on the conversation hearts, whats “texting”?
hahahhahahahaha just kidding! ;) but really. sad.
February 9th, 2008 at 6:04 am
Yikes! Obese?! That is shocking. Although I guess we see it every day – but I am still shocked they would actually label the next generation as Generation O. Your “Generation Online” makes the most sense, but when you said it wasn’t and to try to guess what it was before proceeding, I guess “Generation Opportunity”. With travel like it is, etc, opportunities for the next generation abound. All this crappy economy may impact those opportunities.
February 9th, 2008 at 7:16 am
That makes me sad. But boy do I love those little candy hearts.
February 9th, 2008 at 7:30 am
Strange that they would label an entire generation with “obese”. I know that obesity is becoming a problem but to label that entire generation?
I’m glad to see that they were really referring to Obama supporters.
I like Amanda’s generation opportunity. I hadn’t really decided what it should be when I clicked over.
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February 9th, 2008 at 7:42 am
I couldn’t think of a word that started with “O” that represented the younger generation (online is more representative than obese in my opinion). Obesity has definitely become too common amongst children and teenagers and sadly, few parents know how or have the time to feed their children healthy foods. My friends and I were recently discussing how the family unit has changed so much over the years with two parents working hard stressful jobs, or single parents working hard stressful jobs that food and health are losing ground in households. Its too easy to stop by the fast food joint to get your family meal or to pop some pre-made high-sugar, high-sodium junk in the microwave when you have 15 minutes to cook up a good meal. Society has chosen productivity over family and we are only starting to see the consequences of our actions. Obesity is the physical consequence of our societal choices, there are many others we can not see with our eyes but that are ailing families and children everywhere.
Great blog topic. Rant over.
February 9th, 2008 at 8:47 am
obnoxious!! I have ran into more obnoxious young people recently.
February 9th, 2008 at 9:20 am
Yikes. That kind of makes me sad to think that a whole generation will be labelled that way whether the O refers to obese or not, the inuendo is there and that will hurt.
Love the new look of your site too, smashing!
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February 9th, 2008 at 9:21 am
I think it’s interesting that “obese” is what Google popped up. I also think it’s amazing how many people these days think they (or their children) have great diets and actually eat completely nutritionally void foods (like white bread, hot dogs, and canned vegetables). I know good nutrition takes a little extra work/planning as well as money, but aren’t our bodies, health, and lives worth it?!? I could rant on for a while about nutrition, but I’ll stop there… :)
February 9th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Generation “O”, I had not heard of that either. I think it is sad.
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February 9th, 2008 at 10:17 am
Hi, I didn’t think it stood for online, but I wouldn’t have guessed “obese!”
That is depressing. Hopefully, the “O” ( it could have stood for Oprah ),
generation will change their lifestyle and it can be renamed. I love the conversation hearts picture. I think I noticed the sayings changes a couple of years ago. My sister was a teacher for 34 years and she worries about the way kids spell words in text messages and emails! Cindi
February 9th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
over it? like, we don’t need a snazzy tagline…
February 9th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
That sounds about right. Lately there have been so many news stories and ads on TV about how unhealthy the next generation is/will become.
Who on earth says, “Doh” anymore?? I think they missed the boat on that one!
February 9th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
I thought it was a zero rather than an o, and immediately took the leap in my tiny little brain to diagram 0 in Visio, which is used for data mapping.
In my case O= Out of the loop.
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February 9th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
I couldn’t think of anything either, wouldn’t have guessed obese either. It is kinda sad when you look around the playgrounds or pools and see how many overweight children there are!! Lifestyles sure have changed for this generation!
February 9th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
I was thinking “over it” too – cause they’re all so, like, over it, like, you know, like. I would have thought “online” would have been far more obvious than obese as I’m pretty sure the non obese from generation O would take offence to being called that. In fact they would probably be pretty much over it. Like.
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February 9th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Obese- yikes- I wouldnt want to be referred to like that- Who names these things anyway! Also, who ever thought that telling someone they are overweight would be a helper???
February 9th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
How that is a bit sad & scary. Funny about the hearts, I caught text me as soon as I scrolled down. I haven’t really looked at those in awhile, will have to check them out if my kiddos get some thing year :)
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February 10th, 2008 at 9:38 am
generation “overindulge” ...generation “odd”...generation “opera”...no idea…i thought generation “x”...and “next” were kinda stupid labels too…
February 10th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
I had no guess on the “O”. Can you imagine a guy saying “Text Me”? I would laugh.
February 10th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
There is a website where you can make your own online candy heart to share over cyberspace.
http://www.cryptogram.com/hearts/
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