Example Of Ageism In Advertisements

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As the decades have passed, the life expectancy has increased rapidly. This means people are living longer lives and becoming much older than the average life expectancy. Along with living a longer life, ageism may start to appear in older adult’s everyday routines. Ageism can be seen in many places, for instance,: the grocery store, on billboards, in doctor’s offices, on commercials, etc. This seems to be a growing complication and may even hurt the feelings of some people reaching retirement age. Although some advertisements may not seem like they are trying to show any kind of bias, but in some cases they are. According to Melissa Dittman’s article, the negative stereotypes that are being displayed towards older people might be shortening …show more content…

This advertisement illustrates ageism by saying a “younger, hotter airline” is better. So in order for something to be better than something else it has to be “younger and hotter?” This advertisement might make older people feel bad about being the age they are, and it might lower their self-image. Self-image, especially for women, is really focused on. Some advertisements like http://www.realbodystory.com/img_client/ageist_ex1.jpg and http://www.ltcconline.net/lukas/gender/ageism/pics/ageism2.jpg show that wrinkles are not okay and it also not okay to look like one’s mother. Again, ageism is portrayed here by showing that wrinkles should be eliminated and that someone has to keep up with how they look in order to not look like their mother.
Another example of ageism in an advertisements is one found at http://www.ltcconline.net/lukas/gender/ageism/pics/ageism8.jpg. This is an advertisement for a brand of camera bags. The ad says “The old bag you’ll actually love,” and pictured on it is a picture of an elderly woman’s stomach. This makes it seem like older people are not loved, which would probably make them feel awful about themselves. On the other hand, that certain company may not have gotten many sales for their products because of their use of that picture. The ad also is using some name calling as well by saying older people are old

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