Stereotypes can be classified as perceived thoughts in relation to certain types of people, and including certain behavioral ways (MacRae, Stangor, and Hewstone 18). These perceptions, in most cases, do not show reality reflection. The stereotypes may be aligned to such factors as color, tribe, culture and age. Children and older people are not susceptible to stereotyping because it can involve anybody. In the American society, the community has been subjected to stereotyping of the elderly people in the media. For decades, the elderly have been portrayed negatively by the media, and bearing in mind the power and influence of media, such stereotypes have been edged onto people’s minds. This study analyzes how the elderly are portrayed in the media with regards to stereotypes, expectations, and roles in the American society.
Age is fundamental in a person’s life since each stage has its responsibilities. As a person gets older, responsibilities increase and so are the expectations from the society. The elderly in America have been subjected to various stereotype forms for decades, a perception that the media through advertising have helped to spread (Nelson 3). Advertisements are used to carry and pass certain information intended for a recognized target group. In advertising, message is important since it is a determinant in the attainment of the intended objectives. The message has to have an impact, by influencing the target group in line with the portrayed message.
According to Cuddy, Norton and Fiske (265), American stereotypes of the elderly people is extensive, whereby the elderly are classified as warm and incompetent. This has been derived from further assumptions and perceptions of the elderly being of a low status and noncompetitive. This culture of stereotyping the elderly population is consistent in many countries in the U.S.A, even before it is manifested in the media (Cuddy, Norton, and Fiske 270). There is a widespread belief that old people are non performers, and hence incapable of making useful contribution to society. They are not to be relied upon by the citizenry to assist in the accomplishment of a country’s goals and objectives, but rather, they are supposed to be watched over and assisted because of their frail nature. People across the American society appear to use the warm and competence principal dimensions of stereotypes in relation to the elderly population.
Cuddy, Norton, and Fiske (268) continue to assert that, the general population of the American nation classifies the elderly as being highly warm, but possessing a low competence. Such a classification has been carried on for generations and has been utilized in analyzing the elderly population, even by the media in the country. In the U.S., the media experiences diversity with the increase in print, electronic and film departments gaining immense popularity (Luther, Ringerepre, and Clark 28). In all these media, advertisement takes centre stage as different companies compete to target different groups that would guarantee the success for their companies. This competition has led to the manifestation of stereotypes involving elderly people in the American society. According to Luther, Ringerepre, and Clark (47) people have a tendency to innovate schemas revolving around the chronological age, which are later used to define social identity. These schemas can include categories used to dictate what activities should be associated with a certain age group. The young people; for example, are supposed to be cheerful and playful. Young adults are seen as undecided and experimenters while the elderly may be perceived as slow and unattractive.
It is these schemas that are propelled to give stereotypes based on such factors as race, color, or age. In the American society, the age stereotype involving the elderly has existed for a long time. One stereotype associated with the elderly according to Nelson (49) is the belief that the elderly are incapable of contributing to society. Therefore, this stereotype assumes the elderly are expendable elements of the society, which thereby attracts forces of dislike towards the elderly. Such a belief can be classified as a negative attitude, since the elderly, although looking frail, can contribute to the society by supporting any prevailing or new projects financially. They do not have to participate in societal projects physically, but can support such by offering financial aid. Therefore, the stereotype insisting the elderly are dispensable members of the society due to their inability to contribute to society is misplaced.
Also, as the society at large views the elderly as unable to contribute to the welfare of the society, media have, on the other hand, depicted the elderly as people who have a declined value (Cuddy, Norton, and Fiske 269). In the media, old age is associated with burdens, tiredness, slowness, losing shape, and even sickness. With the influence of the media on the society so outstanding, the message influences more people than can be imagined. Members of the society carry a distorted view of ageing, which leads to a reduction to the ageing expectation. When companies are advertising beauty products, they will always use the images of young and beautiful women to promote their products, and influence the target group. The elderly are rarely used in such advertisements since they are perceived as unattractive; thus unworthy to be used to attract resources in the marketing field. The stereotype that the elderly are unattractive and weak is manifested in the discrimination directed towards the aged people. To the media, aged people are only included in adverts related to products for the elderly. Such products include nursing care and adult diapers among others. They are also not featured in commercials requiring physical activities, although there are some elderly people who have not lost the urge to participate in extensive physical activities. The role of the elderly people, as far as these commercials are concerned, appears to be inactive, uncooperative, and unwilling to venture and try innovative things (Manges 42).
In the fashion industry, for example, the stereotyping of elderly people is highly manifested compared to other industries. In an industry associated with beauty and the high life, stereotypes about the elderly people prevail. The images used to promote the foreign industry; for example, are for young and beautiful women, who do not show any sign of ageing. The astonishing thing is the fact that, although the elderly population interested in fashion magazines is relatively high, the fashion industry does not feel obliged to portray images of women over forty years, frequently (Luther, Ringerepre, and Clark 79). On the contrary, images of women and men who are past the age of forty years rarely feature in these fashion magazines. The presence of so many beauty products in the market, which appear to control aging, reveals the extensity of the stereotypes against the aging community. These products send the message that aging is not good and; therefore, people should do everything in their power to delay, or even control aging.
On prime time shows appearing on television station, only a small fraction of the elderly population is involved (Manges 30). The elderly population is also inaccurate depicted in the media, even when a small population of the elderly population is involved in these television shows. In some of the media presentations, the elderly can be depicted as children, a tactic which may appear harmless, but to the public this can be perceived as having the mental capabilities of children. This depiction is negative and hurts the elderly population, whose only crimes is to age, despite the fact that aging is a normal process of human development. There are instances when the media can mislead on government’s spending on the elderly, which makes the government try to cut on elderly spending, in attempts to avoid problems from the public. Therefore, since the public perceives the media as the eye that reveals the deeds of the government to the society, the public perceives the media as the truth-meter that speaks out on behalf of the public.
When the aging community is bombarded with such images and perceptions, it feels sidelined and unwanted. This reduces the interaction bond between the ageing people and the rest because the elderly are seen as ‘no longer unproductive.’ When the roles of the elderly are no longer marked in the society, it appears the community has written off the elderly, who then tend to keep to themselves due to the treatment they receive from the community members (Manges 10).
In conclusion, stereotypes appear to have been extensively used to depict certain people in relation to their color, race and even age. Stereotyping of the aged people in America seems to have been carried on for a long period, and the media is significant to revealing the extensity of the problem. Aged people are perceived as incapable of contributing to the economy of a society and hence dismissed as superfluous society members. The media promote messages that depict the elderly as people who are frail and unattractive. In the television shows, the elderly are given limited coverage if any; even in places where they may be making a large population of a region. For the beauty companies, the elderly are used to promote commercials that only relate to the products unique to the elderly people. The elderly are associated with illnesses and incapacities, yet not all elderly people are in any form of suffering. The elderly people cannot appear in commercials that appear to demand physical activity, even when the presence of physically, strong elderly people is undeniable.
Works Cited
Cuddy, Amy J, Michael, I. Norton, and Susan, T. Fiske. “This old stereotype: The pervasiveness and persistence of the elderly stereotype.” Journal of Social Issues, 61.2 (2005): 265-283. Print.
Luther, Catherine A, Carolyn, Ringer L, and Naeemah Clark. Diversity in U.S. Mass Media. New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. Print.
MacRae, C. Neil, Charles Stangor, and Miles Hewstone. Stereotypes and Stereotyping. New York: Guilford, 1996. Print.
Manges, Harat A. The Invisible Signs of Aging in International Media: Is the Age Stereotype a Western Problem? Michigan: ProQuest, 2007. Print.
Nelson, Todd, D. Ageism: Stereotyping And Prejeduce Against Older Persons. Massachusetts, 2004. Print.
