A new UM report released this week reveals that over two-thirds of Britons aged 65+ believe that advertising perpetuates negative stereotypes about people their age.
UM surveyed 2,000 Brits as part of ongoing research into stereotyping in advertising. According to respondents aged over 65, the worst stereotype prevalent in ads is that older people are completely rubbish with tech – 62% agree it’s the most frustrating assumption.
The cliché that older people are physically frail and incapable irritates 57% of older respondents and, depressingly, 59% feel that ads treat them as “having nothing interesting to say”.
According to the survey, 46% of the public want to see more older people in ads, rising to 56% among those aged 65+.
Adland might also want to take note that over a quarter of respondents aged over 65 find the commonly used term ‘silver surfer’ offensive.
“Advertising, and the media more generally, is working harder to address stereotypical representations of women, but this is yet to filter down to other demographics,” said Sophia Durrani, managing partner, strategy at UM.
“The proportion of people aged over 65 in the UK now stands at almost 20% and this market segment is growing every year. The older audience often has money to spend and yet the ad industry still seems content to pigeonhole them.
“Not only does this make little sense from a business standpoint, there’s also a broader societal perspective to consider, especially when this industry is guilty of stripping them of respect and aspirations. We need to remember there’s a truth to the phrase ‘ads form norms’.”
Mediatel contacted several over 65s to comment on this story via email. At the time of publication we had no replies ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
