Elderly Disadvantage In The Media

Question 1

What the landis say?

Answer 1

• identified a number of stereotypes in representations of older people
• depicted as one dimensional and described as having wisdom (eg. Dumbledore from Harry Potter) and mentally deficient

Question 2

What did Carrigan and Szmigin say?

Answer 2

• older people are ignored in media advertising and when they are included they are stereotyped and presented as a caricature of an elderly person
• presented as smelly and incontinent and in need of support meaning they are seen as dependant on others
• eg. Incontinence pads advertisements

Question 3

What did the digital generation gap say?

Answer 3

• causes problems for employment as older people may be less comfortable using technology than the young who have grown up with it
• unable to cope with changes such as paperless banking and a lack of understanding of popular conversations and activities because they may not be able to access social media