Many companies marketing to millennials miss their target

New York

COMPANIES bending over backwards to sell to millennials are doing the one thing the cohort hates most: trying too hard.

Attempts at wooing the emoji generation are often rewarded with a deafening ho-hum. Tic Tac put out a candy that changed flavours while dissolving (because millennials presumably get bored quickly); sales rose, but less than in the prior two years. Diet Coke put fan tweets on billboards (because Twitter is the millennial's native tongue, the thinking goes); Americans still drink less and less soda. Banana Republic partnered Hot Dudes Reading, an Instagram account, to create #HotDudesReadingForACause (because millennials reportedly want products with social conscience); net sales dropped 10 per cent.