Millennials are allegedly killing the wine industry. A “Got Milk?”-style campaign is not the solution.
You can add wine to the list of cultural institutions millennials are killing, alongside Applebee’s, starter homes, breastaurants, beer, and golf. According to The New York Times, wine sales could plummet 20 percent in the next decade as baby boomers age out of their peak consumption years and their children continue to prefer White Claw, liquor, or—increasingly—no alcohol at all. Part of the problem is that millennials simply have less disposable income than their parents, and the cost of good wine has risen far faster than inflation since the ’90s. A new report suggests launching a “Got Milk?”-style marketing campaign to sell more wine to younger people, but critic Eric Asimov writes the industry is overdue for deeper changes. That means coming up with a real plan to address environmental and social justice issues instead of sinking money into a “bland and inoffensive” slogan. On that note, it’s wine o-clock somewhere! —H. Claire Brown
