You Are Here:

Home > Media Centre > Press Releases > PSIGE Section > The invisible older woman

The invisible older woman

Aside from the recent Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, there is a general absence of older women used in advertising, signifying a cultural obsession with youth and beauty, and reflecting a societal contempt for older women, affecting their self-esteem, and encouraging younger women to become petrified of ageing.

This is the finding of research by Dr Lauren Rosewarne of the University of Melbourne which looks at the portrayal of older people, and especially older women, in advertising. Her research will be presented on Thursday 6 July 2006, at the Annual Conference for Psychology Specialists Working with Older People (PSIGE) - part of The British Psychological Society - at the University of Sussex.

After analysing 177 outdoor advertisements, Dr Rosewarne found that less than four percent of the female characters that appeared were portrayed as being over 30 years old, and none were portrayed as being over 66 years of age. It was also noted that when older women are portrayed in advertising, their presentation is vastly different from that of younger women, with older women often being cast in stereotypical and negative roles such as the nagging mother-in-law, or brothel madam.

The research suggests that instead of being due to aspirational marketing strategies that don’t deem the older woman a figure of ambition, the absence is actually demonstrating the function of advertising as a mirror to society. While the mirror fails to be reflective of real age distribution in society, it is successful at reflecting contemporary societal contempt for older women more broadly.

Dr Rosewarne said: "Given the overwhelming absence of older characters from outdoor advertising, the message implied is that advertisers expect older women to devote time and money to looking younger rather than embracing their ageing appearance. By rendering these women invisible, the inference is not only are they not attractive enough for billboards, but that they are not attractive at all which becomes synonymous with failing to contribute to society."

She continued: "Aside from the obvious self-esteem issues that plague some older women, there are innumerable broader consequences of their invisibility, therefore highlighting an area for further research exploring the impact of older women’s absence from advertising on equality issues such as women’s access to the labour market."

Ref: PR1025