For years I think the elderly have always been looked at as the weaker group of our society, but what’s the reason for this? The reason why everyone looks down on them is because of the media. The media seems to always put a negative stereotype towards elderly people. As you look at all the different types of ads that show an elderly person in their product, it always seems to show them needing help. The products don’t often show the elderly being strong. For example, if you look at this add above it shows an older woman needing help because she cannot get up herself. Not all elderly people are like this, in fact my grandparents who are nearly 80 are able to get around just fine. Of course they may not be able to move like they used to, but they are still able to things that they really enjoy.
Other ads that seem to give a negative stereotype towards elderly people would be ones like this one above. Many people in our society seem to think that the older generation today do not have the intelligence to understand new technology. I think this is because you see so many ads like this downgrading older people because they don’t properly know how to use the technology that exists today. Obviously it’s something they may not understand well because it’s something that most of our generation grew up with. It would be the same way with how they used to do things 50 or 60 years ago, they just grew up in a different lifestyle. And I sometimes wonder if the media understands that.
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