It’s time to stand up for older adults and stand against ageism.

Everyone has a role to play in challenging ageist attitudes. Ageism is one of the more pervasive and acceptable forms of discrimination, which continues to marginalize and devalue the lives and contributions of older adults. Ageist stereotypes can be found in the media, in advertising, on TV, and even more troubling, internalized within our own hearts and minds. The pandemic exposed the harmful effects of ageism and as a collective, we need to change the way we talk and think about aging in this country. As an organization that works with older adults, Victoria Lifeline is committed to learning and listening so we can contribute to a positive narrative on aging.

The History Of Ageism

The term ageism was first used in 1969 by Dr. Robert Butler, an American gerontologist, who defined it as, “negative perceptions attributed to a population based on its age.” According to the Canadian government, one in four Canadians will be over the age of 65 by the year 2030. Given this growing demographic and the fact that Canadians are living longer than ever before, confronting widespread ageism that negatively affects both mental and physical health is critically important.

What Does Ageism Look Like?

Ageism can take many forms in both the way we think and act, consciously and unconsciously, towards older people. Everyday ageism is socially acceptable and focuses on aging as a state of decline where life gets worse instead of better. We’ve all heard the ‘over the hill’ jokes or maybe associated forgetfulness with having a ‘senior moment’. Yet aging is a wonderful lifelong process that starts the minute we are born and gives us so many gifts – things like perspective, experience, a sense of purpose, and of course the ability to share these gifts with others. However, because ageism permeates popular culture, these positive messages are often lost in ageist rhetoric as older adults are often portrayed as a burden.

Seniors Are Poorly Represented In Advertising

Survey results by the American Association of Retired Peoples (AARP) showed that people aged 50 and over, “who do most of the consumer spending represent only 15 percent of adults in online media images and are seven times more likely than younger adults to be portrayed negatively.” Not only are older adults underrepresented in advertising, when they are depicted, it’s often in a negative or stereotypical way showing things like mental and physical deterioration, helplessness or technological challenges, and a dependence on others. While it may be tempting to consider this type of characterization as harmless, it couldn’t be further from the truth.

Internalizing Ageist Stereotypes

Many of us, old and young, have internalized these very stereotypes and now accept them as truths. In the largest review ever done on the harmful effects of ageism, the Yale School of Public Health found that ageism led to, “worse outcomes in a number of mental health conditions, including depression, and a number of physical health conditions, including shorter life expectancy. Ten studies showed that when older persons assimilate negative age stereotypes from the culture, they have a shorter life expectancy.” The finding illustrates how incredibly damaging ageism is for older adults and for society as a whole.

What Can We Do To Battle Ageism?

So what can we all do as a collective to challenge ageism? Here are some practical tips from gerontologist, professor, and author Dr. Ellie Berger, as posted on the C.A.R.P. website. C.A.R.P. is Canada’s largest advocacy agency for older adults.

Start by challenging your own views on aging

 Dr. Berger remarked that, “ageism is often based on our own fear of aging, and this becomes reflected in negative self-talk (e.g. ‘having a senior moment’) which in turn leads to negative self-perceptions.” Confronting those fears and stereotypes can change the way we perceive the aging process and help both older adults and our future selves.

Stop using language that denigrates older people

How many times have you read or heard the saying, ‘she looks good for her age’, as though there was an asterisk next to beauty because it only belongs to the young. Dr. Berger emphasized, “we need to stop referring to older people as ‘the elderly’ and recognize that people over the age of 65 are not a homogenous group.” As a collective, let’s pay better attention to how we talk about aging.

Call out ageism in the media and advertising

 According to Dr. Berger, “we need to have more positive images of older people in the media and not just focus on aging as a time of decline, feeding into the anti-aging industry.” C.A.R.P. encourages its members and the general public to draw attention to ageism in the media, “the current system of regulation surrounding negative stereotyping in the media is consumer complaint driven, so the power to instigate change starts with you.” If you’d like more information on how to register a complaint, click here.

At Victoria Lifeline, we have clients ranging in age from mid-twenties to over one hundred and there is one common theme – the desire to live independently with dignity on their own terms. We know that needing or asking for help is not about age. We are also grateful to work with a diverse group of volunteers with varying backgrounds and life experiences, many of whom are retired and passionate about sharing their gifts. As an advertiser, Victoria Lifeline is committed to contributing to a positive narrative on aging through the images and messages we use, and we must continue to be vigilant to avoid the ageist trap.

Resource Links: The Centre for Aging Better in the UK has an excellent guide for talking about aging and is a great resource when looking for ways to challenge ageism. Here is a link to the guide. The World Health Organization also developed a toolkit for their Global Campaign to Combat Ageism and encourages everyone to #JoinTheMovement.

Krystal Stokes is the Director of Marketing and Development with Victoria Lifeline, a community service of the Vic Foundation.