I wrote a little bit about this issue, as well as target audiences, as it relates to seniors. However, I think it requires some reflection here. The fact that I used the article to the left in my work life is a key to my age and stage.
I think I will pass on the "Blog Party" - 5 minutes for mom! The site is sponsored by a company. I prefer hanging out with bloggers who are there for fun, not profit. There are many of us who do so in pursuit of cheap fun and virtual travel. I find that more and more companies are sponsoring blogs, and you don't know whether they are giving you accurate and valuable information or not.
Blogs, however, are the least of the ageism issue. We are affected by bias in marketing, health care, and assumptions about who we are perpetuated by those in decision making positions who do not know the statistics.
We are living in the land of retirees. There are many of us who cannot simply retire, travel, and play. Many are fighting poverty, rural access to services, transportation, home care, or health issues. What I hear continually on CBC is the assumption that all retirees are mar
ried, well-off, and able to make choices. I work part-time, in senior's health care, to supplement my income.What enervates me are ads for shows like Spark, or other puerile programs that feature ads that assume that all listeners do not remember LPs, or that those who do are not their target audience. There is a lot of ageism in this society. Government supported corporations, like CBC, need to remember that we are a large, and growing, demographic. I am tired of thirty-something show hosts, producers and copy writers who assume that their target audience likes loud obnoxious ads, that mock 'ancient' technological inventions such as LPs, or 45s, and have no place in the media world. One ad says vinyl 'That's not YOUR generation." But is IS! We pioneered the integration of technology into the workplace. We are proud of what we have accomplished.
Give me and my generation, some of the respect that we deserve. We put girls and women into parliament, into the science programs, gave them excellent math skills, and produced a generation who allows individuals to make choices, to determine their fate based on choices not gender.
5 comments:
This is a topic that irks me no end Jenn. You speak much more eloquently than me but essentially you are saying what I have been saying. The advertisers forget that many of us are a huge demographic. We are the reasons for so many changes - and we raised this generation. We have thwe numbers and the power, and many of us (not me) have the money.
They need to recognize that or we will continue to talk with our money! I am not ready to be put out to pasture just yet and expect, dignity.
Okay I think I digressed..I have many thoughts on the topic Jenn. I just have trouble getting them written.
GREAT TOPIC. Thanks
Deb
Well said, Jenn.
It's very sad, I think commercials are for for middle-income people in general, because poor people can't afford to buy stuff. Therefore (in order to sell ad time) TV shows are for those same people. My close friend who is 44 complains that no one wants to sell her stuff!
Me, I don't want to buy things, anyway.
Technically, Jenn, the rich have never really cared about the poor. They would rather sweep the topic under the carpet than deal with it. Thus the television marketing is aimed at those who can afford as opposed to those who cannot. There have to be spokespersons for the poor to arrange for government help. Now that we have this deep recession upon us, help will be farther away for some.
I'm still waiting for this wonderful financial package Harper dreamed up to be released before my Unemployment Insurance runs out in May.
Amen, Jenn. You said this so much better than I could. I am interested in all kinds of people and all kinds of topics. I read and write blogs to explore all the variety that the virtual world has to offer, not to make a buck or to be given free "stuff". I feel sad when I read bloggers who are obsessed with "what is in it for me?"
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