Pig in a python: The framing of older adults in advertising

Portrayals of older adults in advertising have been sparse and often negative. Older adults have typically been featured in ads for products that target that demographic. The product categories that often include older adults are healthcare, travel, and financial resources. Advertising has often used ageist framing mechanisms, including weak, unattractive, and parodied, when featuring the aged. These portrayals often contribute to the marginalization of this population. As many media outlets report, the aging population is one of the fastest growing demographics. This growth will impact several societal factors such as economics, education, and consumerism. This study applied framing theory, specifically two of Entman’s (1993) four locations of frames in which communication resides, to explore how frames of older adults were utilized in commercials, aired in 2014, for mainstream products. The two locations applied to this study are the text and the receiver locations. The text refers to the framing mechanisms including words, pictures, and symbols that allow the receiver, society at large, to comprehend the message and add to their already existing schemas. Aside from age, the frames of sex/gender and race/ethnicity of older adults were also analyzed. This was to understand how oppression and discrimination intersect on various levels, a concept known as intersectionality.
This examination of frames was conducted using qualitative methods. The first method used to explore the frames was a textual analysis of 30 commercials that featured an older adult as a primary actor. The second method used was in-depth interviews with 17 older adults, aged 65 and older. Several themes emerged from both methods including the presence of ageist frames, the absence of diversity, and gendered racism and ageism frames. Further, although ageism in the commercials was noted by many of the interviewees it was often negated by the lively actions of the older adult characters, which the interviewees appreciated. Further, a distinction between positive ageism and negative ageism as perceived by the participants, as well as how they made meaning of the intersection of sex/gender and race/ethnicity is discussed.