According to Tara Lantieri, Senior Director, Primary Research, Ad Sales Strategic Insights at A+E Networks, “The World Health Organization has done extensive work on the issue of ageism globally, on stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination, how we act towards others or oneself based on age. A lot of the research we've been doing is on how so much of ageism is internalized and self-directed. It's a complex issue in the world and prevalent one.”
Marcella Tabares, Senior Vice President, Strategic & Cultural Insights, Ad Sales Research, A+E Networks concurred. “We start developing ageism beliefs and ideas at a very young age. Children between ages three to four already have some culturally, socially constructed ideas of what age means and they’re usually embedded. We started looking at younger age groups in addition to older to fully understand what the effects of those perceptions are,” she noted.
A+E Networks set out on a course of action, called Total Audience - Every Person Counts, to fully understand the complexities of audiences 18-74 and parsing out differences and similarities between 18-49s and 50-74s. “When we talk about every person counts, we mean every person, regardless of age,” Lantieri stated.
“There are two things happening,” Tabares noted, “Young people are cultivating these ideas of what old age looks like, receiving those messages from visual imagery and projecting those ideas onto others. That's why advertising and media are so important. We construct what the world looks like, what identity looks like. Only then do we project those onto others and start internalizing them. We see how it's impacting young people in their 30s and 40s.They actually hold more negative views and feelings about aging than people who are older, because people who are older are ‘in it.’ You've arrived and you realize that it is not as bad as it's been presented to you for decades.”
It’s notable that, according to the research, older adults feel pretty good about themselves. “The reality is, I feel good, I feel strong, I feel active, I'm curious. For me, I turned 50 this year and this is the best time of my life,” Tabares stated.
The challenge to getting this important point across and changing minds is impacted by attitudes of young agency buyers and planners. “When you look at this industry with a median age in the agency in their 30s or maybe early 40s,” Tabares began, “How can they authentically relate to the experience of aging, and further, how are they able to authentically depict that experience in the creative narratives? It's very hard to do that. So we talked about representation in terms making strategic decisions in creative executions.”
Adequate representation of older adults is another challenge. “What I found particularly jarring and shocking was the level of representation. Our study of national TV ads found that only one in 10 faces appear to be 50 years or older, yet 50+ year olds account for 46% of the adult population,” Tabares shared. Further, “within that was the lack of representation among older women. Only one in three of those faces appear to be female, yet women account for like 52% of the population. “
She noted that context too, reinforces ageism. “You start to see how small their world is constructed. We're much more likely to see older adults using a newspaper and a lot less likely than younger adults to be using technology. They are a lot less likely to be driving, more likely to be walking or in the house. The world that is constructed is so small and this plays into the stereotypical ideas of where older people are.”
Notably, the research paints an entirely different picture. “And yet,” Tabares, explained, “When we hear from older adults in the research, when we listen to them, we hear about their diversity of experience and all of the ways that they're living their lives. It's much more engaged. It's much more social. It's much more connected with the world. It’s very important for us as an industry to be more invested in understanding the experience.”
There is also the buying power of older adults which has been covered repeatedly in the press. “We talk about the scale of the population, their buying power and their ad receptivity as quantitative points. I don't think it's something that we need to continue to prove because that is like asking me, ‘What is the value of people?’ which is the real question we are asking,” Lantieri posited and added, “A lot of people aren't trying to reach them and not trying to include them, so I think the first thing we should think about is purposeful inclusion in a way that is truly engaging and true to their experiences.“
It is not difficult for advertisers to get this right, she noted. “It does require balance but advertisers can absolutely get this balance right. We saw in our test that many already have. It's about balancing realism and repeatability, inspiration and respect. Depictions need to be realistic enough that people can relate to them, but they also have to be inspirational enough that there is a sense of things to look forward to.” It is possible to create advertising that resonates and appeals across all age groups.
The good news is that, according to Lantieri, “The data is showing that people are satisfied with their lives and valuing themselves well across many different dimensions that we asked about. I think it's important to acknowledge the challenges of getting older, but do so in a way that doesn't provoke fear. Showing adults and meaningful relationships is also really key because it demonstrates worthiness,” showing the physical aspects of aging in a positive light and show older adults as capable but not patronizingly so.
Finally, the old canard of older people feel younger than they are, therefore they want to see younger people in ads, is just not true. “I'm not sure where this came from. We’ve seen consistently in our work that people feel about on average 15 to 17 years younger than their age. But feeling younger doesn't translate directly to wanting to see somebody whose looks and body version is 15 years younger. We’ve tested this explicitly because we believed that it’s a myth that's perpetuated for decades and still lives on today,” Tabares revealed.
So for advertisers grappling with the careful balance of engaging both young and old consumers, Tabares has some words of advice. “Show me a real person who looks about my age, where I'm at in my life. We found that works well especially with multi-generational ads. It's not an either or solution. There is a way to appeal to all by showing both younger and older people in a social or family setting, the way we live our lives authentically. That is a key takeaway,” she concluded.
This article first appeared in www.MediaVillage.com
Artwork by Charlene Weisler
