Bill Burkhart, chief executive officer of Age Wave Impact, says studies show that those over age 60 view themselves as if they were 45. So advertising aimed at the elderly is 30 years off the mark. It simply does not hit them the way they feel about themselves. Look at financial advertising for the elderly. That ignores the fact that between 1984 and 1999, the median net worth of households headed by those 65 and older increased 69 percent.
Seniors have twice the discretionary income of their children.
Two statistics best illustrate the ad industry's problem with ageism. Just one-fifth of 1 percent of all Americans in the work force are in advertising. Yet 20 percent of all complaints to the Equal Opportunity Commission about age discrimination come from the advertising industry.