Read this research paper on ageism in the media. How has the media's depiction of older people changed? How has it remained the same?
To gain insight into the under- and misrepresentation of older people in our society, we reviewed empirical studies that focused on images of older people in print and television advertisements and television programs. Some authors, such as Ylänne, have
found a steady increase in visibility of older people in the media and a switch towards more positive portrayals. As Cole noted, "during the 1970s, an emerging consensus among health professionals, social workers, and researchers insisted on a view
that was the mirror opposite of ageism: Older people are (or should be) healthy, sexually active, engaged, productive and self-reliant". We examined studies conducted in Europe and North America since 1950 to explore empirical support for this change
in visual ageism in print and television advertisements and television programs.
In order to explore changes in visual ageism in the media in detail, we asked the following research questions:
1. Do changes in the visual
representation of older adults in the media relate only to younger-old (third age) adults, or are older-old (fourth age) adults also represented?
2. Are changes in the representation of older adults
evident only in the attributes of depictions of older adults, or are they also evident in the roles in which older adults are depicted?
3. Are these changes in visual ageism consistent with successful
aging discourse?
To answer these research questions, we present a narrative literature review of empirical studies that analysed the visual representations of older people in print and television advertisements and
in television programs. We took the systematic review of television advertising by Zhang et al. and a study by Ylänne on representations of ageing in the media as starting points, using key references to lead to other empirical studies. We selected
only empirical studies conducted in Europe and North America because (a) most empirical studies of the representation of older people in the visual media in the past 40 years have been conducted in these socio-cultural contexts; (b) the above-mentioned
changes over time in the way older people are represented in the media refer specifically to Europe and North America; and (c) successful ageing discourse is particularly dominant in the West.
Table 11.1 illustrates the literature on changes in visual ageism over time. We looked at the presence of negative versus positive visual representations over time in terms of roles (peripheral, incidental, or minor roles; major/leading roles; other roles, such as advisory roles) and in terms of attributes (positive, negative, exaggerated). Table 11.1 also shows whether each study differentiated between the younger-old and older-old, and whether the characteristics used to portray older people match the successful ageing discourse, in which older people are active, enjoy life, and maintain a healthy lifestyle (third age: younger old), or whether they are depicted as passive, dependent, and withdrawn from personal responsibility (fourth age: older old).
Changes in visual ageism by media type and time period
Author/Year |
Media typea |
Country |
Time period |
Representations of older people |
Age of the sample |
Differences between younger-old and older-oldb |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Television advertisements |
||||||
Miller et al. (2002) |
TA |
USA |
1950–1990 |
Increasing trend in positive attributes from 1950–1990 |
60–74; 75+ |
Older-old represented in a less positive way than younger-old |
Hiemstra et al. (1983) |
TA |
USA |
1981 |
Underrepresented; peripheral roles |
50–59; 60+ |
Older-old underrepresented for some categories of products (food, health, recreation, services) |
Swayne and Greco (1987) |
TA |
USA |
1987 |
Underrepresented; peripheral roles; advisor roles |
65+ |
Older-old underrepresented for some categories of products (food, services) |
Atkins et al. (1990) |
TA |
USA |
1990 |
Underrepresented; peripheral roles |
50+ |
NS |
Peterson and Ross (1997) |
TA |
USA |
1991 |
Underrepresented; less favourably portrayed (fewer positive attributes than younger people) |
45–64; 65+ |
Older-old underrepresented; less favourable attributes (significant differences) |
Roy and Harwood (1997) |
TA |
USA |
1994 |
Positive attributes (3rd age) – food, retail and health/beauty |
50+ |
Older-old underrepresented (food, retail and health/beauty) |
Van Selm et al. (2007) |
TA |
Netherlands |
2003 compared to 1990–1994 |
More positive attributes (3rd age); more diverse attributes; underrepresented |
NS |
NS |
Lee et al. (2007) |
TA |
USA |
2003 |
Positive attributes (3rd age); minor roles |
55+ |
NS |
Simcock and Lynn (2006) |
TA |
UK |
2004/2005 |
Positive attributes (3rd age); underrepresented in major roles |
50+ |
Older-old underrepresented (food, retail, holiday/leisure, insurance/financial) |
Kessler et al. (2010) |
TA |
Germany |
2005 |
Positive attributes (3rd age); more present in major roles |
60+ |
Older-old underrepresented |
Print advertisements |
||||||
Ursic et al. (1986) |
PA |
USA |
1950–1980 |
Overall increase in frequency of representations, but non-significant roles |
NS |
NS |
Miller et al. 1999 |
PA |
USA |
1956–1996 |
Negative attributes |
55–64; 65–74; 75+ |
Older-old; fewer positive attributes (significant differences) |
Lohmann (1997) |
PAc |
Germany |
1989–1991 |
Negative attributes |
NS |
NS |
Lohmann (1997) |
PAd |
Germany |
1990 |
Underrepresented; unrealistic portraits (exaggeration) |
NS |
NS |
Lohmann (1997) |
PA |
USA |
1989–1991 |
Positive attributes |
NS |
NS |
Williams et al. (2007) |
PA |
UK |
1996–2003 |
More positive attributes as time progresses |
NS |
NS |
Williams et al. (2010) |
PA |
UK |
1999–2004 |
Positive attributes (3rd age) |
60+ |
NS |
Ylänne et al. (2009) |
PA |
UK |
1999–2004 |
Positive attributes (3rd age) |
60+ |
NS |
Coupland (2007) |
PAe |
UK |
2004–2005 |
Positive attributes (3rd age) |
50+ |
NS |
Television programs |
||||||
Aronoff (1974) |
TP |
USA |
1969–1971 |
Negative attributes |
NS |
NS |
Bosch (1990) |
TP |
Germany |
1982 |
Underrepresented; peripheral roles; when present - active, healthy |
NS |
NS |
Vernon et al. (1990) |
TP |
USA |
1987/1988 |
Underrepresented: rather positive attributes |
||
Harwood and Anderson (2002) |
TP |
USA |
1999 |
Negative attributes; peripheral roles |
60+ |
NS |
Kessler et al. (2004) |
TP |
Germany |
2001 |
Positive attributes (3rd age) |
60+ |
aTA Television Advertisements, PA Print Advertisements, TP Television Programs; bNS not specified; cMagazines; dPopular illustrated magazines; eStudy includes print advertisements and magazines