Carlos Rodriguez LyC
Episode 5 of the Richards/Lerma podcast Loud and Clear included the discussion by the agency’s Planning Director Carlos Rodriguez of the study Generation Zexual: How Gen Z is Reshaping Society’s Understanding of Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation, whichhe prepared along with Brand Planner Justin Rubenstein. “The conversation on the sexual spectrum of this universe comes at a time when brands and advertising experts have a great chance to address Gen Z, especially from the perspective of diversity, inclusion, and the desire for individual recognition” he said. Rodriguez noted that Gen Z has lately become the focus of advertising: “Before doing this study, I thought I knew this demographic pretty well, but the spectrum of their sexuality has now expanded so much that the number of ways they can be identified, like gender fluent, cisgender, transgender and many others, is just marvelous.” He added that brands and agencies must understand this reality in order to be honest with their target audiences. “It is extremely relevant how this spectrum is affecting language,” Rodriguez said. “Today, there are so many ways to identify people aside from the usual male-female terms. Only 66 percent of this generation consider themselves heterosexual, which represents a huge change from previous generations. Some 56 percent of young people in this group know at least one person who uses a non-conformist gender term, showing that a diverse range of gender types is well perceived by this generation.”
