Advertising Images of Mature Adults: An Update

Abstract

Data generated from a 1990 content analysis of magazine advertisements and television commercials do not support the contention that media portrayals of late adulthood and mature people have increased or have changed over the past decade because of shifts in the population. The results indicate that the portrayals cannot be considered negative; mature adults are typically described as happy, knowledgeable, and confident. They appear frequently in caring and helping roles, such as grandparents, which may be stereotypic, and in authority and wisdom roles; although in these roles, women are under represented. Mature adults may comprise a larger segment of the market than in the past; their presence in advertising remains somewhat scant and circumscribed.