The portrayal of older people's social participation on german prime-time TV advertisements.

OBJECTIVES

We investigated the portrayal of older people's social participation on TV advertisements according to a set of theoretically meaningful indicators from communication science and gerontology.

METHODS

We examined a representative sample of 656 prime-time advertisements broadcast for a period of 2 weeks in 2005 in Germany. Five percent of the advertisements featured at least one older character. Each of the characters in the subsample was rated according to role prominence, viewer-character distance, employment status, openness to experience, social interactions, and loneliness. This portrayal was compared with the portrayal of younger characters appearing in the same commercials and with the portrayal of younger characters in commercials without an older character according to the same indicators.

RESULTS

4.5% of the characters were rated 60 years or older. Older characters were disproportionately featured in major roles, depicted as employed and open to new experience. Furthermore, older characters were most often depicted within intergenerational and nonfamily contexts. Older characters were kept at a greater camera distance than younger characters in "young commercials."

DISCUSSION

Although rare, when older characters did appear, they were depicted as socially engaged. We compare this portrayal with real-world gerontological evidence and age stereotypes and discuss how the portrayal might affect viewers.