IntroductionAs the population of North America, Europe and Australia continues to mature, marketers in these countries have started to recognise that there is a need to move attention towards this potentially lucrative group of consumers. To date, most of the consumer research into the over-50s market has taken place in the USA, with few studies being carried out to investigate the UK mature market. Given the current and potential importance of this affluent and discriminating group of consumers, one would expect advertisers in the UK to make substantial use of older people as models in order to present relevant and attractive appeals to this segment of the market (Festervand and Lumpkin, 1984;Peterson, 1992). However, arguments have been made to the effect that younger models dominate advertisements, even for products which are targeted specifically at older consumers (Smith and Moschis, 1985); for example, models aged under thirty advertising anti-wrinkle products such as Oil of Ulay, or orthopaedic chairs and "comfort" clothing such as Daxon. This suggests that advertisers believe that older people hold a less attractive appeal. It is also argued that when older people are used in advertisements, they tend to be depicted in ways which suggest infirmity, helplessness or some other negative stereotype of old age (Peterson, 1992). This is not only insulting to the large number of fit, competent and active over-50s, but it is potentially dysfunctional in society, since it reinforces negative beliefs among the general population, and perpetuates ageism. The purpose of our study was to assess the extent to which 50+ adults are used as models in a sample of advertisements, and the manner in which they are portrayed. The findings are used to assess the validity of the argument that the over-50s are ignored by advertisers, and that they are depicted unfavourably.
The demographics of the older marketIt is well known that the UK, in common with most of Western Europe and the USA, has an ageing population; it is estimated that by 2021 33 per cent of the UK population will be 55 or over (Social Trends, 1997). This increase is partly due to past fluctuations in births, such as the post-World War II "baby boom" and current issues such as low fertility rates (Tinker, 1994), but probably most