AARP study on older adult stereotypes in on-line images. We think they can help. – Herb Weiss

By Herb Weiss, contributing writer on aging issues

Photo: AARP website

Following on the heels of an intense national media debate of President Joe Biden’s age and his ability to govern, a new AARP study finds a positive shift over the past five years in how adults 50-plus are portrayed online in marketing and media imagery. Researchers found that negative sentiment in online media and marketing images dropped from 28% in 2018 to just 10% in 2023.

AARP’s analysis compared images from 2018 to 2023, revealing the strengths and limitations in how aging is portrayed in media and marketing.  

AARP’s Media Landscape Review analyzed a random sample of over 1,000 online images and 500 videos featuring adults 50-plus from brands and thought leaders posted on news sites and social media with at least two million followers or readers. But political content was excluded.

According to Lauren Goodson, AARP Research Director of Growth, Enablement & Membership, AARP conducted the initial study to demonstrate the opportunity for companies/brands to more accurately and honestly represent older adults. The 2018 study found 28% of online images portrayed adults 50-plus in a negative manner compared to just 4% of those under the age of 50. “We are encouraged to see that efforts by AARP and other organizations to raise concerns about ageism have resulted in significant improvement over the past 5 years, says Goodson, noting that no decisions have yet been made about a third wave of the study.

The research findings indicated that the age 50 and over population is pictured as more active and independent, less fearful, and more likely to use technology, reflecting a growing recognition of older adults’ active lifestyles and valuable engagement in society.

While the results were promising about the decrease of ageism on the internet, note researchers, they stressed that challenges still remain.  Social media images of older workers aged 50 and over in the workplace remained unrealistically rare, they say, while depictions of this age group spending time with family actually fell over the past five years.

“At AARP, we have been leading the fight to combat ageism in marketing and media imagery, and it looks like the creative industry is starting to really listen,” said AARP Chief Communications and Marketing Officer Martha Boudreau, in a Sept. 23 statement announcing the study’s findings. “As the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. In the age of social media, and with the ubiquity of advertising across people’s daily lives, this is truer than ever. The images we see shape what we think and can even influence how we act towards one another. Progress has been made in improving how 50-plus adults are portrayed but we still have a lot of work to do. Studies like these point the way forward and give us a solid roadmap for how to continue to make things better,” she adds.

AARP’s study details positive improvements showing a shift “from decline to vitality.” For instance, aging was viewed as more active than before.  The researchers say that the portrayal of America’s older adults has “moved from fear-based, with an emphasis on financial and medical themes, to active and healthy lifestyles.  When reviewing on-line images and videos, findings show that 26% of people 50-plus shown in images were physically active, compared to 15% in 2018.

The AARP research findings revealed a striking increase in depictions of adults 50-plus using technology. In 2023, 33% of images showed people 50-plus using tech devices, up from just 4% in 2018.  The study’s findings, indicating an uptick in the use of tech devices, better reflects this age cohort’s acceptance of technology, challenging outdated ageist stereotypes and highlighting the reality of their digital use.

As they age, nearly 80 percent of America’s older adults aged 50 and over want to age in place in their community, choosing not to be placed in an assisted living or nursing facilities.  The study showing 73 % of static images showing people at home vs. 39 % in 2018, reflects that this trend has been more visibly reflected in media in recent years

Meanwhile, just 8% of static images showed people in a retirement community compared to 15% in 2018. The researchers say it’s a sign that retirement centers are less likely to be the visual shorthand for aging, with recent images elevating independence over medical worries or reliance on assistance.

Even with positive changes, there is more room for improvement especially with portrayal of older adults in the workplace.  Despite older workers making up over one-third of the workforce, the study found only 14% of social media images show age 50 and older adults at work, this being almost unchanged from 13 % in 2018. Researchers say, “this underrepresentation misses both on what people 50-plus are adding to the economy and what long, satisfying careers are adding to their lives.” Also, how long people are working or have gone back to work due to outliving income streams, a negative, but realistic image.

As to mobility challenges, AARP’s study reveals a substantial gap in representing mobility challenges among age 50 and over adults.  The findings indicate that only 1% of images show consumers with mobility aids, despite 12% of these older adults, in fact, regularly using a mobility device for assistance walking or navigating stairs. 

Finally, the study found a significant decline compared to 2018 in people aged 50 and older shown in multi-generational families. There was a significant decline compared to 2018 in these older adults shown in a family situation (17% to 9%) or with their grandchildren (13% to 6%), this suggesting a major opportunity for social media to more accurately reflect an important source of joy and meaning for many over 50. This finding suggests a need for the social media and marketing companies to better portray the important family roles and relationships older adults have, as these connections become more significant as one ages.

Finally, the research tracked still images and video content, with video proving to be more successful at showing adults 50-plus interacting with others, outside the home and using technology.

Every picture tells a story, don’t it?

“Those of us in communications often search for images to use to accompany stories, says Nancy Thomas, publisher of RINewsToday, a state-wide new site, noting that usually original images, with credits to photographers and artists are used. “Whether we buy them from a photographer or image service or use ones provided in what is called a Media Library on such platforms as WordPress, searching for just that right image to illustrate an article we’re publishing can be extremely difficult if the image you want is first that of an “older person,” admits Thomas.

Thomas, who ran a marketing company and held senior communications positions for over 30 years, says “it’s the hardest search we’ll do.”

According to Thomas, common searches for “a dog and family,” a “child in daycare”, “people camping” or “networking” are pretty simple, but it is more difficult to find group shots featuring accurate age spectrums and finding no person looking older than 40. “Looking back years ago,” she says, “there were no people of color, but today that has changed significantly.”

“But older people? Aging? You might find them in a nursing home setting, in a bed, with a younger person holding their hand. And then there is the active couple, running gently at the water’s edge. Or sitting at a Thanksgiving table,” quips Thomas.

“But to find an older person at work? At a training meeting? Maybe even doing the training?  It’s hard to find. At a computer? Only if someone is at their shoulder, ‘helping them’. But no doctors – they all look 30 years old. No accountants. No writers. Or even people in therapy. All young,” she says.

“It’s a conundrum, and entirely unfair for small communication and marking firms and news sites. “We’ve written to WordPress expressing our suggestion that the next time they make paid assignments to add to their Media Library they think about common images to show older people in everyday settings. At work. Watching television. Cooking. Doing art. Having a spa day. At the playground with their grandchildren. Shopping. As the medical expert. Or technician,” says Thomas, noting that “All images amazingly absent.”

Thomas adds: “When we do find images of older men and women, how often are they in muted colors? Wearing sweaters. Or, of course, there are the handsomely grey-haired men with the twinkle in their eye.  We wonder what AI will bring to the table, being programmed, as it were, by younger people?  Request an image of grandma and grandpa playing with their newborn grandchild – see what you get,” she asks.

“Let’s push back against being seen, regardless of our age, as either “the wealthy” or “the impoverished” – most of us, regardless of our age, are somewhere floating up and down in the middle. A healthy dose of realism led by the photographs we show, and the images we keep, is due all the way around,” says Thomas. 

A suggestion for AARP – beyond studies – to solution!

Thomas went on to suggest one thing AARP could change much of this. They could create a bank of photos that groups could use with “approved” AARP images (even giving an AARP credit line so small websites and publication sites could dramatically improve their images overnight – not only would AARP be creating an almost instant solution, they could add a small fee to subscribe to the service that would help fund their future studies into issues of concern for aging Americans.

On-line Imagery Should Accurately Reflect Society

According to Galligan, Betty Galligan, APR, president of Pawtucket-based Newberry Public Relations and Marketing, as the AARP study points out, the creative media industry has a long way to go in portraying life as an older person in today’s society. In addition to photo and video imagery on news sites and social media platforms, streaming video content is an opportunity that holds a lot of influence to normalize the way we see 50-plus adults. “It would be wonderful to see a romantic series or movie featuring an older leading man or woman who uses a wheelchair or walker to get around. Or to show more older heroes and heroines in the workplace. “The Intern” movie with Robert DeNiro and Anne Hathaway comes to mind, as does the stereotype of Meryl Streep’s character in “The Devil Wears Prada”,” she says.

Online media shapes and informs public opinion, and its influence is evident in the way people view older adults, says Betty Galligan, APR, president of Pawtucket-based Newberry Public Relations and Marketing, Inc. “The recently released AARP study reveals a positive shift because the 50-plus population today is indeed way more active than in past generations,” she said.

 “We all know a grandparent who is using text messaging, TikTok and technology to keep up with their grandchildren. We also know older folks who are athletic and energetic well into their 80s, sometimes more so than their younger counterparts. Marketing imagery should hold up the proverbial mirror to society and reflect this,” adds Galligan, who has worked in the Boston and Providence advertising sector for nearly 40 years.

In the past, successful advertising and marketing was ideally aspirational, reflecting what consumers desire to be versus what they actually are,” observes Galligan. “At its core, it can be deceptive. Images depicting stereotypes of a thin model smoking, for example, drove sales for cigarette brands especially among women who used smoking as a diet aid,” she said, stressing that today’s realism is in vogue.

“Popular reality TV shows, the “celebrification” of ordinary people, citizen  journalism on social media platforms all play a role in portraying the average person (including older adults) in ways we’ve not experienced before,” notes Galligan.

Galligan notes that people are healthier than in past decades, living longer and with more vitality. In general, the 50-plus market segment has greater disposable income, so it’s no wonder that brands are embracing this demographic reality. “Marketing has become bolder and more inclusive than before – case in point, ads depicting older same-gender couples and ladies wearing disposable garments for incontinence, says Galligan.

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To read more articles by Herb Weiss, go to: https://rinewstoday.com/herb-weiss/

Herb Weiss, LRI -12, is a Pawtucket-based writer who has covered aging, health care and medical issues for over 43 years. To purchase his books, Taking Charge: Collected Stories on Aging Boldly and a sequel, compiling weekly published articles, go to herbweiss.com.