Ageism in Advertising: The Real Truth About Older Women
What drives me crazy is the way that women over 60 are portrayed in advertising. If you have not seen the latest commercial from Wendy’s about their breakfast sandwich, you are lucky.
Featuring three frumpy-looking older women, one continuously asks, “Where’s the bacon?” with a bewildered look on her face. Wow, who thinks up this stuff?
The Real Truth About Older Women
The women that I know at this age don’t resemble the tropes we see in the commercial. They are well dressed, take care of themselves, and do meaningful things with their lives! The last thing they are worried about is how much bacon there is in a breakfast sandwich. The portrayal suggests that these women are infantile and ask the questions that “smart” people confidently assume they cannot answer for themselves.
This is ageist. It is not okay to portray older women as clueless and worried about insignificant issues. Such stigmatizing thinking allows stereotypes to go unquestioned, especially when there is a huge gap in the representation of older women and age-positive thinking.
The Power of People in Their Third Act
According to projections available when this article was written, a significant and growing share of Canada’s population would be over 65 in the coming decades. Are they all going to be wandering around looking for more bacon? If marketers don’t get their act together, they risk losing the attention of a very large proportion of the population. Talking down to this sizeable group is a sure-fire way to lose their consumer dollars.
As we age, our cognitive capabilities change. Check out last month’s blog: Success is the Next Part of Your Life. While we may not be able to learn the latest computer software as quickly as teens, we can draw on years of experience when solving problems. We look at things differently from our younger counterparts, but that can be a strength. In businesses and society, there are many challenging issues, and active older people can bring different perspectives to potential solutions. Businesses are increasingly talking about how diversity and inclusion can contribute to stronger organizations. Age diversity deserves a place in that conversation.
Get On Board, Marketers, or Get Run Over
The first place where age diversity should be embraced is in marketing and advertising. Building a brand should not come at the expense of any group of people. In the book Emotion by Design, Greg Hoffman, the former CMO of Nike, discusses the importance of empathy and broader perspectives in building brands. He also emphasizes the importance of diversity when building marketing teams.
The time is now to point out and object to insulting ageist communications. Tell me below: what marketing messages do you feel misrepresent you?
1 Emotion by Design: Creative Leadership Lessons from a Lifetime at Nike by Greg Hoffman, p. 60.
2 Ibid., p. 35.
