{"id":4042,"date":"2025-07-04T13:39:29","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T12:39:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jigsaw-research.strat7.com\/?p=4042"},"modified":"2026-03-16T16:22:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T16:22:49","slug":"rethinking-portrayals-of-age-in-ads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jigsaw-research.strat7.com\/us\/blog\/rethinking-portrayals-of-age-in-ads\/","title":{"rendered":"Rethinking portrayals of age in ads"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Britain\u2019s population is ageing \u2013 but not in the ways one might expect based on today\u2019s ads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We recently conducted a piece of mixed-methods research for the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), exploring how older people are depicted in advertising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What we found was a striking disconnect between how older generations see themselves and how they\u2019re portrayed by ad agencies. People aged 55+ describe living full, vibrant, and rounded lives &#8211; yet much of mainstream advertising still leans on outdated clich\u00e9s: portraying them as lonely, frail, or technologically challenged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over a third of the UK population agreed that older people are negatively stereotyped in ads &#8211; a figure that rises to nearly half (48%) of those aged 65 and over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These depictions aren\u2019t just inaccurate (and irritating); they also have the potential to cause offence &#8211; and in some cases, harm. Particularly where ageing is shown as something to be fought, or where older people are framed as isolated, or out of touch because of their age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Continuing to rely on extreme or one-dimensional portrayals risks alienating a large and influential part of the population &#8211; one that not only plays a vital role in society but also holds a significant share of the UK\u2019s wealth and spending power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Addressing this gap isn\u2019t just good practice, it\u2019s the smart thing to do as a business \u2013 ensuring better targeting, stronger resonance and more effective comms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To read our full report click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.asa.org.uk\/resource\/the-depiction-of-older-people-in-ads.html\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"mailto: eloise.wroewright@jigsaw-research.co.uk\">Ellie Wroe-Wright<\/a>, July 25<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Britain\u2019s population is ageing \u2013 but not in the ways one might expect based on today\u2019s ads. We recently conducted a piece of mixed-methods research for the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), exploring how older people are depicted in advertising. What we found was a striking disconnect between how older generations see themselves and how they\u2019re [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4043,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[73,11,47,52,74],"class_list":["post-4042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-advertising","tag-consumers","tag-insights","tag-market-research","tag-over55"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Rethinking portrayals of age in ads - Jigsaw Research<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The focus of the research was to understand to what extent, and how, certain depictions of older people in ads can give rise to offence and\/or harm.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jigsaw-research.strat7.com\/us\/blog\/rethinking-portrayals-of-age-in-ads\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rethinking portrayals of age in ads - 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