How the Elderly Perceive Television Commercials

Abstract

Income and education were important factors; overall, "younger" ekEerly were more influenced by television than over-70 viewers.Demographically, America is getting older. According to the 1978 U.S. census, persons 65 and over constitute nearly 11 percent of the population, and this group is increasing at a more rapid rate than is the general population (8, pp. 27-32; 9, p. 10). This age group has also been found to watch more television than any other. Nielsen statistics (5) show that among people over 55, women watch slightly over 37 hours and men watch almost 33 hours per week.Several factors have been found to affect how the elderly TV viewer perceives television. According to Davis (2), age, more than other socioeconomic factors, determines the viewer's perception, and positive feelings toward television wane as the viewer ages. Phillips and Sternthal (7) concluded that social and psychological changes which accompany the aging process also have an impact on how the elderly process and use information gained from television.The negative portrayal of the elderly on television may also be a factor in their use of television information. In an examination of prime-time dramatic television from 1969 to 1971, Aronoff (1) found that the aging process was associated with increasing evil, failure, and unhappiness. Northcott's (6) 1974 study indicated that the elderly are both under-represented and negatively portrayed, while Harris and Feinberg (4) concluded that under-representation per se was not a main problem, but rather that older characters were essentially one-dimensional and were rarely well developed. Commercials, too, seemed to exhibit

Attitudes of the Elderly Toward their Portrayal in Advertisements

“…Unlike previous studies (Klippel and Sweeney 1974;Schrieber and Boyd 1980;Stephen 1981), this study has found that the elderly generally do not have a I believe that how the elderly are portrayed in advertising merely reflects the general attitude of that company toward the elderly's place in society.…”

“…Similar findings have also been reported by Doolittle (1977), Harris (1975), Jamieson (1978a,b) and Samli and Palubinskas (1972). Schrieber and Boyd (1980) found a generally positive attitude among the elderly toward their portrayal in television advertisements; however, this attitude was not universal for all elderly. Attitudes were~und to be inversely related to the social class variables of education, income, and occupation with those occupying a higher social class having a more negative opinion of the elderly's portrayal in advertising.…”

Television Commercials as a Lagging Social Indicator: Gender Role Stereotypes in Korean Television Advertising

“…In other words, the mainstreaming effect reduces cultural and political differences among television viewers. Studies have shown that heavy television viewing may influence children's perceptions of behaviors and psychological characteristics associated with gender (Frueh & McGhee, 1975;McGhee & Frueh, 1980), and Schreiber and Boyd (1980) found that heavy viewers of television commercials among the elderly were more likely than light viewers to perceive characters (e.g., the elderly) in commercials as realistic (i.e., mainstreaming effect). It may not be advertisers' full responsibility to reflect statistically accurate images of our society.…”

“…Although this model has typically been employed to explain the impact of television violence (e.g., Gerbner & Gross, 1976), it also has been applied successfully to the cultivation of attitudes toward gender roles (e.g., Signorielli, 1989). Although Gunther and Thorson (1992) found that people claimed no negative effects of product commercials on themselves (but did expect negative effects on others), other researchers (Frueh & McGhee, 1975;McGhee & Frueh, 1980;Schreiber & Boyd, 1980) have found evidence of a cultivated audience or the process of cultivation in advertising.…”

Gender Representation of Older People in Japanese Television Advertisements

“…Advertising, particularly, teaches us about social roles and values (Pollay 1986) and informs how we think about gender roles (Garst and Bodenhausen 1997;MacKay and Covell 1997) and age roles, such as how older people regard themselves and are regarded by younger people (Schreiber and Boyd 1980;Smith et al 1985).…”