Periodt: What Brands Can Learn From Gen Z Drop of The Full Stop
Gen Z is a generation heavily influenced by African American Culture; from fashion, hair, music, art, language oral and written. A culture that was deemed inappropriate, unprofessional, violent and unappealing. Gen Z especially non-black Gen Z uses African American culture as a way to defy tradition and societal norms. Whereas Black/African American simply are embracing our culture, we’re decolonizing our minds as we say, letting go of Eurocentric ideologies that were forced upon us and generations before us through colonization. African American culture specifically written and oral defies euro-traditional sentence and punctuation structures.
“African American culture specifically written and oral defies euro-traditional sentence and punctuation structures.”
As a writer I was exposed to the writings of many Black literary authors. The author that specifically stood out for me was Zora Neal Hurston, her anthropology of language and the black experience post-slavery was so ahead of its time. She so perfectly captured the vernacular of Black Americans (AAVE: African American Vernacular). Here’s an excerpt from her book: Their Eyes Were Watching God: “What she doin’ coming back in dem overhauls? Can’t she find no dress to put on? Where’s dat blue stain dress she left here in? Where all dat money her husband took and died and left her? What dat ole forty year ole ‘oman doin’ wid her hair swingin’ down her back lak some young gal?”
“We as black Americans write how we talk, we write with a tone that is very theatrical, and we write how we feel.”
In Hurston capturing the unique vernacular of Black Americans, notice how there isn’t traditional punctuation being used. Notice how certain words such as The/They/Then/Them are being pronounced as Dem/Dat/Den. These two instances are a few of the many grammar structures and pronunciations that defy traditional English grammar. We as black Americans write how we talk, we write with a tone that is very theatrical, and we write how we feel.
“Periods are now seen as passive aggressiveness or disrespect in writing but saying period orally is a form of complimenting, agreeance or boost of confidence.”
In the age of social media, text messaging, emailing where words and expressions are reduced to abbreviations, acronyms, memes, gifs and emojis. Run-on sentences are used to express and put emphasis on mental health and thought process. Periods are now seen as passive aggressiveness or disrespect in writing but saying “period” orally is a form of complimenting, agreeance or boost of confidence. These things that seem so new, but have been a part of Black American culture pre-internet and mobile phone, creating our own language to communicate with each other that outsiders won’t understand.
Gen Z is a very expressive generation. It's important to use the right meme, gif or emoji to convey messages. Breaking large paragraphs in text messages into smaller chunks to help get certain points across easily and quickly because our generation's attention spans are all over the place especially when mobile devices are just open tabs. Placing punctuations in certain spots to emphasize seriousness, authority, and knowledge. Every detail matters, and because of that Gen Z redefines and creates our own rules with the languages, punctuations, and pronunciation of words that are unique to the various conversations we have throughout the day.
“Informal language is how Gen Z communicates, it’s how we tell our stories, convey our feelings, connect.”
Gen Z is letting the world know that we are an authority and long gone are the days where formal language is the only way to communicate, be heard and understood. Informal language is how Gen Z communicates, it’s how we tell our stories, convey our feelings, connect, and it’s all unique from person to person based on our relationship or experience we have with that person.
A lot of companies are aware of the need to market to Gen Z using memes, gifs and certain languages when sending promotional emails, ads, commercials etc. However, where most companies lack the ability to deliver is with authenticity. Most times the people on the marketing team are not involved, in proximity to, or a part of, the culture. Or they are in a different generation a little far removed from the current generation. You can’t have motives to target a specific audience and not include them in the process, and also be tone deaf to the reality of the pre-existing cultures which this specific audience is influenced by.
“You understand the point a person is trying to get across, why so serious?”
Punctuation is a huge part of communication and Gen Z is the generation that is letting people know that you don’t have to be limited with grammatical rules to be understood, you understand the point a person is trying to get across, why so serious? The best way to speak to us is to get input and guidance from us which ensures a natural cadence to marketing messaging. Or include honesty in your messaging that you don’t understand perfectly the rules, and make a joke out of it. We understand, accept, and can laugh with you about not understanding us or our universe perfectly; honesty is key. We can always tell who’s behind the screen, and Gen Z wants authenticity all around.
