I was looking forward to reading the article about the launch of Gransnet Local in The Argus, but my spirits took a serious nosedive when I read the opening sentence:
"Grandmas are set to swap their hairnets for the internet as the website Gransnet launches two Sussex sites."
Words Fail me!!!
Many of us on GN rose up in verbal protest when the Telegraph accompanied their article with a photograph of an extremely aged woman. She may well wear a hairnet, but the general consensus was that she was in no way representative of the modern grandmother!
Let's have a think about this ...
How old does one have to be to become a grandmother for the first time? Pretty well anywhere between about 36 and 80 I would guess, but the average age is probably around 50. What does a 50 year old look like in 2013? I could list any number of youthful, fashionable, vibrant 50 and 60 year olds, and I betcha anything you like not one of them wears a hairnet. (Can you actually still buy hairnets?)
What do we have to do to stop the media resorting to totally outmoded and frankly outrageous images of older people today?
Shame on The Argus and The Telegraph, and every other paper that resorts to such sloppy and inaccurate imagery. It does nothing to portray Gransnet accurately or to promote it to modern grandparents.
www.theargus.co.uk/news/10354090.Silver_surfers_go_live_with_website/