Hitting the ‘glass wall’: Investigating everyday ageism in the advertising industry

Abstract

This article contributes to the growing research into the structural inequalities characterising the cultural industries by investigating the lived experience of older cultural workers. By drawing on 22 in-depth interviews with experienced advertising creatives it explores how ageism manifests itself in the creative departments of advertising agencies and how older creatives negotiate their professional identities in response to ageist representations, discourses and practices. By focusing on one of the so far mostly neglected inequality regimes prevalent in the cultural industries, this research adds to recent attempts to empirically explicate the formation of entrepreneurial subjectivities of cultural workers and the ‘psychic life of neoliberalism’. In all, the accounts provided by older advertising creatives paint a complex but also a consistent picture of entrenched ageist work cultures, which require considerable efforts on the part of older practitioners to successfully navigate. They do this by adopting an attitude we describe as resigned resilience. This notion encapsulates the ambivalence expressed by these older creatives towards their prospects in the industry and adds nuance to overly simple portrayals of the entrepreneurial subjectivities of cultural workers.

Societal Age Stereotypes in the U.S. and U.K. from a Media Database of 1.1 Billion Words

“…Geriatric crisis center, cosmetic surgery clinic, office of ageing." In-depth interviews also found that ageism existed in the advertising industry, with older workers perceived by young workers as "dead wood" [39]. Overall, the results are remarkably similar: Negative stereotypes are highly prevalent, compared to positive stereotypes.…”

Ageism in Working Life: A Scoping Review on Discursive Approaches

“…In the work-life accounts, research participants often explain ageism with reference to their personal attributes, such as slowing bodies (Bowman et al, 2017), decreased work ability (McMullin & Marshall, 2001), increased health problems (Crăciun, Rashe, Flick, & Hirseland, 2018), and low skills and ability to learn new things (Crăciun et al, 2018;McMullin & Marshall, 2001). Beyond these negative attributes, research participants have explained ageism in relation to their over qualification and the expensiveness that comes with experience (Brodmerkel & Barker, 2019;Noonan, 2005) or expertise that enables them to resist management's authorities (Bowman et al, 2017;Moore, 2009). Working life experiences of ageism are not only related to workers' age but also the age of the clients that professionals encounter.…”

“…Aging as a Hindering Process. Numerous papers claim that ageism derives from the social construction of aging as a hindering process and the obsession of our society to be ageless and aspire for perpetual youthfulness and beauty (Brodmerkel & Barker, 2019;Laliberte-Rudman, 2015a;Laliberte-Rudman & Molke, 2009;Romaioli & Contarello, 2019;Spedale, 2019;Spedale et al, 2014). Spedale et al's (2014) analysis of an age discrimination case-law report from a UK tribunal showed that youth ideologies are reified in the workplace and used to justify rejuvenation discourses and practices.…”

“…These studies highlight how identity negotiation might be affected by internalized and subconscious ageist attitudes, which are reinforced by the institutions. Brodmerkel and Barker (2019) studied older workers in the advertising industry and found that, to combat ageism in the field, older workers developed -resigned resilience.‖ Older workers continued to try to make a living in the advertising industry while acknowledging the ageist structures of their field. Employing discursive strategies, they positioned themselves as having -mature strategic experience‖ compared with the youthful creativeness of younger workers.…”

The toll of success: Female leaders in the “women‐friendly” Greek advertising agencies

“…In the advertising sector constantly seeking “fresh” ideas, age is a barrier manifested on the body, experienced as negative, and leading to feelings of insecurity as well as to glass ceilings for both men and women (Brodmerkel & Barker, 2019), often constituting a worse form of discrimination than gender or race (Coffee, 2016). Global statistics indicate that less than 10% of employees are over 50 years old in advertising (Brodmerkel & Barker, 2019) and older creative workers are often pushed towards self‐employment (Hennekam, 2015). It is worth noting that in the study of Brodmerkel and Barker (2019) the sample comprised 18 men and only four women, out of which three were self‐employed.…”