False advertising: why we need more realistic depictions of older people

Advertising and social media can create dangerously false narratives around body image – that's the findings from MPs, published in a new report by the Health and Social Care committee. We know that advertising and social media can be particularly impactful on how we view ourselves as we age.

Ageing Better's own research found that the narrative in media and advertising often focuses on defying the physical signs of ageing, with words such as 'wrinkly', 'anti-ageing', 'grey', 'withered' and 'decrepit'.

This is especially pointed for women, with beauty products telling older women they should 'fight the signs of ageing', 'look 20 years younger', and 'age gracefully'. Casual ageism is so deeply ingrained in our day-to-day lives that we rarely stop to question why we should be ‘fighting’ ageing in the first place.

Each and every one of these messages reinforces the idea that ageing is an inevitable period of physical decline and a loss of beauty.

Therefore, the recommendation from Committee’s report – that the Department for Health and Social Care should further explore body image dissatisfaction among older people – is timely, and much needed.

With health conditions often becoming more pronounced and more likely as we age, we must also recognise the intersection of age and health. There were powerful testimonies from people who had developed body image issues at a later age, with one respondent stating how from the impacts of chemotherapy, steroids and cancer, combined with ageing, their ‘body image is zero’ and that they don’t recognise or like their body or how they look.

When it comes to social media, our research found that social media users frequently use caricatures and stereotypical adjectives to describe older people. Much of this language can be gendered, with women portrayed as looking ugly and unpleasant (e.g., ‘old hag’), and with equally negative language used to describe older men (e.g., ‘old codger’ or ‘dirty old man’).

Across social media we also found common associations of age and mental and physical ability, usually in the context of a decline. For example, older people were frequently referred to as ‘senile’, ‘weak’ and ‘frail’. This link between ageism and ableism is apparent in many jokes on social media, often following the format of 'my Nan could [do this task better]'. Drawing such negative parallels, presenting the idea of an inevitable trajectory towards decline, gives people an unfair view of ageing.

This normalisation of such language and portrayals of old age feeds into our own perception of self. We know from our ‘Doddery but dear?’ report that these depictions can have a negative impact on older adults, resulting in prejudice and discrimination, as well as influencing the way all adults think about ageing.

This is why, as part of our wider work to stamp out everyday ageism, the Centre for Ageing Better is working to ensure older people are portrayed in a more realistic and diverse way across media and advertising. We’re calling on the Advertising Standards Authority to set standards with regards to age, in the same way as they would with race, gender and/or sexuality, and we are working with advertisers to avoid stereotyping older adults.

We’ve also created our totally free, age-positive image library showcasing positive and realistic images of people over 50 in a variety of settings, such as older LGBT+ people, and older and Disabled people getting active, in a bid to challenge negative and stereotypical views of older age.

We’ll be tackling the scourge of everyday ageism head-on as part of our new campaign against age-based discrimination.