Advertising aimed at over 50s

The ones who wear twinsets and "fought the war for you" are a generation older than you, Sylvia so most of them have died out.

In another twentyfive years, maybe the norm for pensioners of your age will be your "wild woman from Borneo" look, and non-conforming 70 year-olds in space suits and shaved heads will be thinking they they are a lot of clones.

Thank goodness for eccentric gransnetters who wear what they like

Over 50's marketing on the television and in magazines is what I think of as the one foot in the grave ads. Ie they think the over 50's or even approaching it at about 47 say are only interested in
1) Leaving a little nest egg for our offspring when we die which could be almost iminent,
2) Paying for our funerals
3) Taking care of our frail and leaking bladders discreetly.
4) Having baths in an upright position.
5) Cruising up the stairs slower than the average snail who's gone for a nap when we still have the use of our legs.
6) Having posh nosh meals on wheels that even our grandkids can eat with us too sometimes.
7) Going on quiet holidays when the children are all back in school so we don't have to put up with their shrieking alien little way.
8) Being able to have the occasional last snog before we finally turn up our toes (which is all the bedroom action that we can expect at our age) thanks to the miracle of some glue stuff that stops our teeth suddenly falling out when our partner suddenly having a flash back to his long forgotten youth when he used to french kiss all the girls behind the bikesheds, tries it on you his dentally challenged partner.

I ask you who wants to listen to all that stuff, I don't feel any different now inside than I did when I was in my 20's I'm interested in the same sorts of things and don't want to be targeted by advertising because of the date on my birth certificate. I still want to know what is this summers hotest fashion look, about what new records are playing on the radio and what is this seasons must see new film. I have no interest in suddenly throwing out all my lacey underwear when I get to 50 and donning thermal long johns. So please Mr Marketing when you target me target me just as a woman who is interested in living life to the full until its time for me to meet my maker. If I get an embarassing case of incontinence along the way I'm quite capable of discreetly popping along to see my doctor to get some advice and into my local pharmacy to have a little chat with my ever so knowledgeable pharmacist about panty liners.
We surely would think it in bad taste if an ad came on the tele urging us to think about to what degree we want to be embalmed and what coffin handles we prefer lest we pop our clogs without conveying these important things to our loved ones. Well surely its just as bad taste to keep reminding a sector of our community on a daily basis that they havent got long for this world so they better start a funeral plan or to keep harping on about their bad health and infirmities. I think we have forgotten to stand up for our rights as consumers to say, Look I don't want to hear about your highly efficient incontinence pads when I'm about to sit down to my dinner.
There are some commodities you can buy that you should be able to go and seek them out when you need them and the rest of the time they should keep a butlers silence.
And don't get me started about those firms who agressively market to the over 60's by pushing for an in home appointment and then stay for 4-6 hours to wear their target audience down until they sign on the dotted line just to get rid of them. Yes Mr I can put your bed up and down into any position and tilt and rotate it 360 degrees, (actually that bed is starting to sound a bit interesting!). I've got your number!

The ability to scroll through the adverts is a blessing. If you have not recorded the programme, put it on pause, wander off and empty the washing machine and make a culpa. Then when you return you can catch up and go through ads at x4 speed. Wonderful things these free-sat boxes.
Does anyone else think most of the photos used in print and internet ads look like they are photos of Americans. Difficult to put my finger on why.
I guess the big on-line photo-libraries that graphic artists go to, to find photos are the reason.
It's the same with pictures of "people at work" .

Well put iamnotanapple and welcome if you're a new poster.

In fact welcome to several new posters.

Oh, I have just realised .......

I think everyone has said it for me. Janerowena in particular. Their is nothing to add to all this Wisdom.

My pet hate is the woman who reads "People's Friend" Do any of you know anyone who reads "Peoples friend?" (Other than in the doctors surgery!)

I have heard of it, but could not tell you what it is. I'm more likely to pick up New Scientist or Cosmopolitan!

I had thought that I had said all I had to say on this subject, but the fact is that we should all be making wills, I have lost eight friends over the past two years, in their late 30s and into their late 40s, all through cancer and strokes. I have only lost one older family member in all that time, in her late 90s. So please aim your will-writing adverts at younger people, they are the ones who don't bother and cause all sorts of chaos.

Why show an older person using a raised chair, why not show a 17 year old who has broken his back in a motorcycle accident?

My sister wanted to go on a river cruise 20 years ago when she was in her early 30s. She didn't go because she said they only catered for older people.

So my ultimate advice would be - stop employing all those ignorant youths and give someone with some brains and experience a job.

Aww, Nellie, don't knock the good old PF or its readers. However 'cosy' and mundane the stories, the fact is that it still has a readership and has, strangely, stood the test of time. Is now the time to admit that my great grandfather was its first editor, and my grandfather the third editor? And no, I don't read it myself!

Iamnotanapples list of ads is surely not aimed at the over 50s?! That's all for the over 90s! We're all still middle aged - 60 is the new 40 and all that (or is it the other way around?)

Personal most adverts pass me by. We generally record non BBC TV so the ads can be fast forwarded and stuff in mags is easily ignored. The only ones which comes to mind which I notice because it annoys me so are the holiday brochures (harder to ignore when you've sent for them). The smiling, carefree grey haired couples enjoying their holidays as if it's a way of life, because the advertisers see retired people as being carefree with no responsibilities. They obviously have no idea how many over 50s have children, grandchildren, elderly parents relying on them for support.

And increasingly, no decent pension either. What will happen to all of those companies in ten years' time, I wonder? All of those sedate river cruise boats will have to install paddling pools and employ babysitters!

Having a few chuckles as I skim through this thread and I have just had a thought:

If advertisements such as those in iamnotanapple's hilarious list are aimed at the over 50's and life begins at 40, that gives us just ten years to fit in all the fun!

(Apparently)

I quite fancy the thought of choosing my own urn, or coffin handles, on eBay, though.

I did one of those mental age quizzes and came out at 30. I don't know whether to be pleased or insulted!

going backwards, not forwards! A good motto

Probably just sliding gently backwards into my second childhood!

Although I don't read PF, I have dear friend who does and believe me it would be difficult to hate that lady. She had a very poor childhood but is a skilled dressmaker and tailor. However she has never been confident with reading and writing (perfectly competent but lacking confidence) and rarely tackles a book so her choice of reading is PF and I wouldn't dream of criticising. Ok to hate the publication but maybe not the reader?

Anno my auntie loved PF and when she could no longer walk to the newsagents I bought it for her on subscription.

I am late 50s. Youngest DS is only 12.With so many women having children after 40 maybe the adverts should be child related??. I would just like to be able to buy a magazine with nice wearable,affordable fashion, current affairs, travel and arts and no adverts for stairlifts, incontinence products and general plans. I have to work for years yet so need workwear and smart widefit shoes!

Love your answer! It says everything I wanted to say, but much more succinctly than I would have put it!

Certainly some advertising ok . but when they cm on the back of completed surveys they make themselves a b***dy pest

I think Warner's Hotels for older people have been reading this thread. They now show an incredibly annoying women with a permanent smile with boundless energy who is determined to meet up with everyone and is game for everything and never stops grinning or talking. The sort who says brightly 'Oh Look! It's raining! I do love a good ten mile walk in the rain! Come on, last one outside is a slacker!' I think I am turning into Grumpy Old Woman. But the truth is, no advert aimed solely at older people is ever going to make me feel happy.

Women (and men) can go grey at 17. Men can go bald at that age too. I know teenagers with bad backs. I know teenagers who are deaf. I know a disabled child who uses a walk-in bath and a stairlift. I know a man in his late 20s who bought one of those chairs that tilts you up and lets you out because he thought it was cool!

So why do all the adverts for those things show older people?

I havent read the whole thread.

I realise that, althought I know I dont take notice of adverts in general, I certainly dont take specific notice of over 50's adverts. Even though I am over 50.
And the reason is, I have realised, because such adverts dont even apply to my own, very much in good health, mother. So I wouldnt dream of thinking that the adverts apply to me at all.

As with so many of you, I don't watch them, use these periods for , loo, making tea, pulling curtains , checking diary, or mobile, even f/book!
On puter I don't have home page, I use blank- reason is I can't stand jumping /flashing adverts ! Hurts eyes !
I constantly delete ads and things they think I would like to see on any, including f/b who then ask why I am deleting, which i ignore by closing! It doesn't always work, so then I turn off appliance ! For a period.
I personally believe all advertising should be banned -illegal !!
Thus a much sweeter world, well that is apart from info: one seeks or asks for, with libraries, and local booklets from counci
l delivered once or twice a year!
Also Google has the most info; anyone could possible want !! They are a frightening force, so much control over our personal information!!!
Even when I have not given it to them ! They have stole it from my computer!!
Google is now trying to take over tesco club card... Which has been a very good success ! But in case they do , I am closing my a/c and deleting my details !!!

The question should be "Do we really need to target the over-50s as though they are all clones?" and the answer is a resounding NO.

The over 50s include people of 50, 55, 60, 65 who are working fulltime at all kinds of varied jobs and juggling child-care for their children or grandchildren plus their elderly parents, people of 70, 75, 80 who have retired and are getting on with whatever interested them earlier, or whatever they now have time for, and may still be looking out for even more elderly parents, people of 85, 90, 95 who may (or may not!) have health problems and/or be in sheltered accommodation or in care.

Some of the over-50s are in excellent health, some have chronic or acute ailments. Some like sports and exercise, some can't stand them. Some eat traditional meals, some are vegetarian, some have to avoid certain foods. Some buy designer clothes, some buy chain-store or supermarket. Some shop at Asda, some at Waitrose, some at the corner shop. Some vote Tory, some Labour, some SNP, some UKIP. Some live in detached mansions with acres of grounds, some are in a high-rise flat with a smelly lift.

If you offer them well-designed and well-made goods at reasonable prices they will buy them, but which goods and which marketing will influence them to buy depends entirely on the personality, history, life-style and circumstances of the individual. Just treat them as intelligent and experienced human beings.

Having read through the thread, I must say that I am in total agreement with the sentiments expressed. I resent being lumped together with half the population of the country as though we are one heterogeneous mass. In my small circle of friends, although we are approximately the same age, we have entirely different hobbies and attitudes towards many things. Never a dull moment!
I usually manage to avoid TV and magazine ads, but the phone pests still sneak through occasionally. Although I can appreciate that they are only doing a job, my hackles rise at the pseudo-sympathetic tone of the caller and the assumption that I am unable to manage my own life without 'help' from their expensive gadgets. I was actually asked in the introductory spiel of one caller if I had trouble taking a bath. I said, "No. Do you?" End of conversation.