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Senators
Back Doris Roberts
Roberts and Others Paint Picture of
Entertainment and Marketing Industry With Little Regard for Seniors
Citizens
Sept. 4, 02 – Actress Doris Roberts,
star in the television series “Everybody Loves Raymond” won the
backing of the two U.S. Senators who head the Special Committee on
Aging in her condemnation of the negative portrayal of older Americans
in television, film, news and marketing in testimony today. The
committee also heard from several other experts on the prejudices
plaguing older Americans
Committee chairman Sen. John Breaux
said, “It is clear that the media’s obsession with youth often comes
at the expense of older Americans. In the quest to target youth, media
and marketing have ignored the purchasing power and preferences of
millions of baby boomers and seniors across the country– a population
that controls 3/4 of the nation’s wealth.”
“Madison Avenue
tends to project an image that only the young can do things and only
the youth can sell things,” said Sen. Larry Craig, the Committee’s top
ranking Republican. “I don’t think that’s true. We all buy, we are
all sizes – short, tall, big, over-weight, under-weight, and we all
have access to a market place and we all have spendable income. We
often see the stereotypical picture of the feeble, helpless senior in
many commercials and ads. In fact, only 4.25 percent of seniors 65
and older live in nursing homes. This statistic shows that the
overwhelming majority of our seniors are living independently.”
According to
Robert Snyder, a senior partner with J. Walter Thompson Specialized
Communications, Mature Market Group, the 50-plus market holds more
than $1.6 trillion in buying power, yet less than ten percent of the
today’s advertising focuses on people over the age of fifty. Seniors
control nearly seventy-five percent of the nation’s financial assets,
yet seventy-five percent of older consumers say they are dissatisfied
with the marketing efforts that have been directed at them.
“The media and
marketing industry are basing decisions that concern seniors on
outdated consumer research. We need to do all we can to encourage
these industries to devote more resources into studying demographics.
It’s vitally important that all industries accurately reflect changes
in aging demographics, social demands and culture. With 77 million
baby boomers approaching retirement age, this group is too important
to ignore,” Craig said.
Yale University’s
Dr. Becca Levy told the Committee that negative portrayals of the
elderly have a health impact on senior citizens. Citing a new study
begin in 1975 and recently published in the Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology, Levy said that those who have a more positive
self-perception of aging lived more than seven years longer than those
who had negative ideas about aging.
“Participants were
interviewed six times over the twenty years of the project. The 660
individuals included in our analyses were matched to survival
information we acquired from the National Death Index,” Levy said.
“More negative self-perceptions of aging predicted a reduced will to
live, which, in turn tended to contribute to a shorter life span.”
Dr. Robert Butler,
M.D., President and CEO of the International Longevity Center, said
that he coined the term “ageism” in 1968 while serving as chairman of
the Washington D.C. Advisory Committee on Aging. He said it is time
for a sea-change in the way seniors are portrayed by the media.
“We must challenge
the advertising, news, and entertainment industries to end ageist
stereotypes,” Butler said. “We are in the midst of a wonderful new
world of longevity. It is in our power to make it a celebration.”
Wednesday’s
hearing, titled “The Image of Aging in Media and Marketing” was
webcast live and is available for viewing at http://aging.senate.gov/events/
“Many of the problems older Americans
face today are rooted in the fact that our society simply does not
value older people as it should, said Sen. Breaux. “Just as it is
wrong to stereotype and discriminate against people because of their
race, religion or gender, so too is it wrong to stereotype and
discriminate against people simply because they are older.” |
