Friday, May 17, 2024
“Okay, bring a woman over 50…but make sure she looks under 40!”
In 2060, one in three European residents will be over 65 years old. This reversal of the population pyramid will change the way we consume. This fact defined the concept of the silver economy, the engine of the future economy.
The problem is that some brands decide to target their products to this growing age group while denying their physical and emotional reality. By providing aspirational models based on the values of young people, we create a consumer economy where reality is replaced by simulation, as Guy Debord proposed in The Society of the Spectacle. A simulation in which the brand’s marketing director constitutes a mirror in which this group would like to reflect itself. Cosmetics and appropriate clothing are sold to make people in their fifties look like they are not, implicitly implying even more perverse discrimination against older people.
According to research by the Sra. Rushmore agency, only 11% of people over the age of 50 appear in advertising, but according to the EU they account for 42% of consumers and 60% of spending. And the most common of this percentage appearing in our ads reflects former models who have enviable genetics and have dedicated their lives to cultivating their skin and anatomy. This is clearly a practice of what can be called “age washing.” “ ”, deception in form and substance. If we truly want to contribute to a more sustainable consumer society that includes older people, we must start by not denying their identities.
A few years ago, a Chinese agency launched a campaign for the Adolfo Dominguez brand, winner of the 2019 National Creative Award, proposing that the word “old” cease to be used with disdain in the fashion world. , encouraging young people to “grow old” by reflecting on the purchasing process and evaluating the durability of products, rather than choosing novelties for novelty’s sake. A disruptive campaign focused on sustainability and quality in a new consumption model that fits reality rather than simulation.
Facing this social reality as a business opportunity, especially in the areas of brand communication and the digital economy, we need to view old age positively rather than negatively. For a variety of reasons, the bias against youth targeting that many marketing professionals suffer from is almost always without rational justification, and it is not older consumers who are primarily harmed by this mistake. , the advertisers they use. .
The arrival of the silver economy will somehow usher in a new conversation that not all brands are ready for, with major implications for areas beyond aesthetics and health. It is equally relevant to tourism, artificial intelligence, food, and financial systems.
