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Perceptions of negative stereotypes of older people in magazine advertisements: comparing the perceptions of older adults and college students

ABSTRACT Negative stereotypes not only affect how older people feel about themselves, but also how younger people feel about old age and their prospect of growing old. The research reported in this paper has examined the negative and potentially harmful stereotypes of older people portrayed in magazine advertisements in the United States, as perceived by groups of older and young people. Q-methodology sorts of 40 advertisements with negative images of older people, along with personal interviews, were used to probe older people's and college student's feelings and attitudes about the images. The subjects were placed in four categories: ‘moralists’, ‘objectors’, ‘ageing moralists’ and ‘resentfuls’. Regardless of whether stereotypes were used, the older people liked the advertisements that showed them as being clever, vibrant and having a sense of humour. Neither the older people nor the students liked advertisements that ridiculed or poked fun at older people, or presented them as being out of touch with reality and unattractive. Both groups rated the stereotypes dealing with the real problems associated with ageing as inoffensive. The comparison of the two age groups showed a strong consensus about which images were acceptable and which offensive.