SOC101: Introduction to Sociology (2020.A.01)

Since the introduction of the term "ageism" in the literature by Butler, the number of studies documenting the process of systematic stereotyping and discrimination against people because they are old, and analysing the way these stereotypes are shared in the population and how they persist over time, has continued to expand. In this chapter, we analyse representations of older people in the visual media - print advertisements, television advertisements, and television programs. We examine whether older people are represented as third agers, who are active, enjoy life, and who maintain a healthy life style, which are all part of the successful ageing discourse, or as fourth agers, who are inactive and unable to live independently. We assess empirical evidence that suggests a shift away from negative representations of older adults in visual media towards more positive representations, and illustrate the way in which this change has occurred in advertisements and television programs.

Previous media studies research has mainly focused on the frequency with which women and various minority groups are characterized in television content and advertisements. In media research, ageism, like other forms of stereotype, is seen as "a coherent set of shared ideas and beliefs that constitutes a particular justification of the interests of dominant groups: the state, employers, hospitals, media". Albeit not explicitly, media studies have approached ageism as an asymmetric power structure based on age, a constructed justification of inequalities between age groups, by focusing on groups that are systematically under- or misrepresented in the media. They criticize the negative representation of older adults in the media, including the fact that they are often only given minor or peripheral roles and that they are portrayed with no positive attributes, and argue in favour of more positive, more realistic and nuanced representation, in which the portrayals of older adults more accurately reflect the characteristics of the audience.

Media content, including visual media, is a continuous reflection of societal practices. It influences everyday interactions, including the way we relate to older people, as well as the way we see ourselves as "being old". Media representations offer a means to examine the logic according to which the social construction of ageing is made and maintained. However, media studies are often criticized for the overuse of content analysis as a method, the lack of theoretical discussion, and the fact that they focus on the sender and neglect the receiver in the communication process. To address some of these issues, ageism researchers have started to document the frequency of stereotypic representations from a communicative perspective, regarding aging as an interactive process between society and the individual.

We coined the term "visual ageism" to describe the social practice of visually underrepresenting older people or misrepresenting them in a prejudiced way. We believe that this concept could be useful in researching the way older people are presented in visual media content. Visual ageism includes older adults being depicted in peripheral or minor roles without positive attributes; non-realistic, exaggerated, or distorted portraits of older people; and over-homogenized characterizations of older adults. At the end of this chapter, we discuss an alternative to reduce visual ageism: the "design for diversity" approach.