[Senate Hearing 107-797]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 107-797
THE IMAGE OF AGING IN MEDIA AND MARKETING
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON AGING
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
WASHINGTON, DC
__________
SEPTEMBER 4, 2002
__________
Serial No. 107-35
Printed for the use of the Special Committee on Aging
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____________________________________________________________________________
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SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON AGING
JOHN B. BREAUX, Louisiana, Chairman
HARRY REID, Nevada LARRY CRAIG, Idaho, Ranking Member
HERB KOHL, Wisconsin CONRAD BURNS, Montana
JAMES M. JEFFORDS, Vermont RICHARD SHELBY, Alabama
RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin RICK SANTORUM, Pennsylvania
RON WYDEN, Oregon SUSAN COLLINS, Maine
BLANCHE L. LINCOLN, Arkansas MIKE ENZI, Wyoming
EVAN BAYH, Indiana TIM HUTCHINSON, Arkansas
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada
DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan CHUCK HAGEL, Nebraska
JEAN CARNAHAN, Missouri GORDON SMITH, Oregon
Michelle Easton, Staff Director
Lupe Wissel, Ranking Member Staff Director
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Opening Statement of Senator John Breaux......................... 1
Prepared statement of Senator Larry E. Craig..................... 75
Panel of Witnesses
Doris Roberts, Emmy Award Winning Actress, ``Everybody Loves
Raymond,'' Los Angeles, CA..................................... 3
Robert N. Butler, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer,
International Longevity Center--USA, New York, NY.............. 12
Robert Snyder, Senior Partner, J. Walter Thompson Specialized
Communications, Mature Market Group, Dallas, TX................ 24
Paul Kleyman, Editor, Aging Today, American Society on Aging, San
Francisco, CA.................................................. 66
Dr. Becca Levy, Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Public
Health, Yale University, New Haven, CT......................... 67
(iii)
THE IMAGE OF AGING IN MEDIA AND MARKETING
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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2002
U.S. Senate,
Special Committee on Aging,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:34 a.m., in
room SD-628, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. John Breaux
(chairman of the Special Committee on Aging) presiding.
Present: Senators Breaux, Carper, Stabenow, and Craig.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR JOHN BREAUX, CHAIRMAN
The Chairman. The Senate Committee on Aging will please
come to order. Good morning, everyone. We are delighted that
you all are attending our hearing this morning, the hearing on
the image of aging in our media and our entertainment
industries, dealing with image of aging, both in the media as
an entertainment mode, as well as in the marketing of these
entertainment programs.
I would like to thank all of our witnesses for being with
us. I know a number have traveled a good distance to be here
this morning. I want to especially thank Doris Roberts who we
had the pleasure of meeting with last night. She is a special
person who won an Emmy last year and has also been nominated
for her second Emmy Award this year for her performances in the
television series ``Everybody Loves Raymond,'' which I will add
I love as well, as do millions of Americans.
I also want to thank Senator Craig who will be joining us
in just a moment to talk about the issue of ageism in the
media. We have all sat through films in which a 60-something
leading man is paired together with a 20-something leading
lady. We have also seen older people mocked and younger people
celebrated for the purposes of selling a product.
It is clear that entertainment, marketing and news
industries value youth. What this hearing will address today is
the fact that often the media's obsession with youth comes at
the expense of older Americans. In fact, 75 percent of older
consumers are dissatisfied with the marketing efforts that are
directed at them, and often even avoid buying products whose
ads are negative and stereotypical.
In the quest to target youth, the media and the marketing
industries ignore the purchasing power and the preferences of
millions of American baby boomers and seniors across our
country, the population that incidentally controls about three-
fourths of the wealth of our nation.
Statistics are disturbing from what our committee has
learned. As an example, adults 65 and older comprise 13 percent
of the U.S. population, but only 2 percent of the characters on
prime time television. An example further is that 77 of the 122
prime time television series did not employ a single writer
over the age of 50. Also, less than 10 percent of today's
advertising in our media focuses on people over 50, although
this is a group by the year 2040 will be 40 percent of the
entire population of the United States of America.
Also, 50 and over adults buy 41 percent of all the new cars
and 48 percent of all the luxury automobiles. Today 50-plus
adults represent 80 percent of all luxury travel and spend 74
percent more on a typical vacation than Americans between the
ages of 18 and 49. Older consumers, for example, are also
spending three times the national average on health care
products and services.
Many of the problems that older Americans face today are
rooted in the fact that our society simply, I think, does not
value older Americans as it should. As our witnesses will
discuss today, negative images of aging in print, on
television, and on the big screen affect how older Americans
themselves prepare for their retirement, spend their money,
maintain their physical health and interact with their family
and their friends.
Just as it is wrong to stereotype and discriminate against
people because of their race or their religion or their gender,
so too is it wrong to stereotype and discriminate against
people simply because they are older. Only through raising this
awareness, this public awareness of the problem of ageism in
the media, can we begin to address the greater societal
implications of our aging population.
Now is the time to embrace aging and recognize the ways in
which Americans of all ages are redefining aging and working to
eliminate ageism and discrimination. I look forward to all of
our witnesses commenting on these matters this morning.
We are delighted to welcome all of our panel of witnesses,
and first, as I indicated, in referring to Ms. Doris Roberts,
she is very familiar to us in her roles on television, in the
media, on the big screen, Emmy Award winner, and I learned last
night a very active person, not only on the screen, but also in
this subject that we are talking about today. We thank her very
much for taking the time right in the middle of shooting
``Everybody Loves Raymond'' to come all the way to this coast
to share with us her thoughts, and Ms. Roberts, we welcome you
and glad to hear from you.
STATEMENT OF DORIS ROBERTS, EMMY AWARD WINNING ACTRESS,
``EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND,'' LOS ANGELES, CA
Ms. Roberts. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, members of the
committee, thank you very much for inviting me to talk with you
about ageism. I am in my seventies, at the peak of my career,
at the height of my earned income, and my tax contributions, I
might add. When my grandchildren say that I rock, they are not
talking about a chair.
Yet society considers me discardable. My peers and I are
portrayed as dependent, helpless, unproductive and demanding
rather than deserving. In reality, the majority of seniors are
self-sufficient middle-class consumers with more assets than
most young people and the time and talent to offer society.
This is not just a sad situation, Mr. Chairman. This is a
crime. In the next 25 years, more than 115 million Americans
will be 50 and over. They will become the largest older
population in history. I am here to urge you to address the
devastation, cost and loss that we as a nation suffer because
of age discrimination.
Age discrimination negates the value of wisdom and
experience, robs us of our dignity and denies us the chance to
continue to grow, to flourish, and to become all that we are
capable of being. We all know that medical advances have
changed the length and the quality of our lives today, but we
have not, however, changed our attitudes about aging or
addressed the disabling myths that disempower us.
I would like the word ``old'' to be stricken from our
vocabulary and replaced with the word ``older.'' My
contemporaries and I are denigrated as ``old,'' old coots, old
fogies, old codgers, old geezers, old hags, old timers and old
farts.
In truth, the minute you are born, you are getting older,
and the later years can be some of life's most productive and
creative. For the last 100 years, the average age of the Nobel
Prize winner is 65. Frank Gehry designed Seattle's hip new rock
museum at the age of 70. Georgia O'Keefe was productive way
into her eighties. Add to the list Hitchcock, Dickens,
Bernstein, Fosse, Wright, Matisse, Picasso and Einstein, just
to mention a few people who produced some of their best work
when they would be considered over the hill by current
standards.
The entertainment industry, these image makers, are the
worst perpetrators of this bigotry. We must change the negative
stereotypes of aging that exist in the media, and when I was a
young woman, some of the most powerful and popular actresses
were women way in their forties, women such as Joan Crawford,
Bette Davis, Katherine Hepburn and Barbara Stanwyck, who
continued to work, getting better and better in their craft as
they got older, and many of my friends, talented actresses in
the 40 to 60-year-old range, are forced to live on unemployment
or welfare, because of the scarcity of roles for women in that
age bracket.
A Screen Actor Guild's employment survey showed that there
are three times as many roles for women under 40 as there are
for women 40 years old and older, even though 42 percent of
Americans are older than 40. This is why some of my
spectacularly talented actress friends have been forced into
humiliating positions of borrowing money to just meet their
mortgage payments and health insurance or begging me to see if
there is a tiny part on ``Everybody Loves Raymond.''
It also explains why younger and younger actresses are
visiting plastic surgeons; actresses in their 20's are getting
Botox injections to prevent wrinkles from forming. Women start
getting tummy tucks and face lifts in their thirties to
forestall the day when the phone stops ringing.
When a woman hits the age of 40 in Hollywood, executives
think she is too old. Well, I have got news for them. I have
been fortunate to be one of a handful of actresses who has
continued to work throughout my career, but it has not been
easy. When I was in my forties, I heard of a great part on a
new series called ``Remington Steele.'' But I was not
considered for it because I was thought to be too old, and
because I was very persistent and knew the casting director, I
read for it, and I got it.
The roles for women my age frequently show seniors in
insulting and degrading ways. They make cartoons of the
elderly. I recently turned down a role in a movie for me to
play a horny grandmother who spewed foul language, exposed
herself and chased after young boys. Well, I turned that one
down. But I know someone who took that part.
There is a coalition to protect the way every other group
is depicted in the media, but no one protects the image of the
elderly. Hollywood clearly is clueless when it comes to
understanding today's seniors. They are blind to the advances
in medicine and self-care, and the increases in personal income
have made us a force to be reckoned with and a market to be
exploited.
I mean 20 years ago, it was accurate to show a senior
coming in for a check-up dragging his oxygen tank. Today, he
would be dragging his golf clubs. Twenty years ago, older
experienced writers past the age of 50 were getting 60 percent
of the jobs. Today, it has shrunk to 19 percent. Six months
ago, I developed a project with an Emmy Award winning writer/
producer. When it came time to pitch the project to the
studios, he refused to come with me. When they see my gray
hair, honey, we are finished, he said. Why do they think that a
man in his fifties does not have anything to say about love or
youth or relationships?
He has a lot to say if anyone would listen. A few years
later, rather earlier I should say, I pitched a project to a
network and got a very enthusiastic response. The executives
wanted me to take it directly into development, which was very
exciting, but once they found out that our producer/writer
attached to the project was a woman in her fifties, they
stopped returning my phone calls.
Yes, there is energy and excitement and enthusiasm in the
young, but there is not any less among those in their senior
years unless society is successful in its campaign to rob us of
those qualities, to diminish us. We older people control 77
percent of the country's disposable income, yet the
entertainment industry has made age something to be feared. It
is a small comfort to know that those who have perpetrated
ageism will soon face it themselves.
As General McArthur once wrote, ``Youth is not a time of
life; it is a state of mind. Nobody grows old by merely living
a number of years. People grow old by deserting their ideals.
Years wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the
soul. Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear and despair, these are
the long, long years that bow the head and turn the growing
spirit back to dust. You are as young as your faith and as old
as your doubt, as young as your self-confidence, as old as your
fear.''
Mr. Chairman, I address you today as a person young in
spirit, full of life and energy, and eager to stay engaged in
the world and fight ageism, the last bastion of bigotry. It is
no different from sexism, racism or religious discrimination.
It is a tyranny that suppresses us all at any stage and serves
no one.
As my late husband, the writer William Goyen, said, when we
see people who are infirmed, handicapped or older, we turn away
from them, we shun them, and take away their light. Today, the
image makers have taken away our light, and I am here to urge
you bring it back. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Roberts follows:]
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The Chairman. Ms. Roberts, thank you very, very much, for
an outstanding statement. You certainly are full of life and
your continued involvement in this subject really offers a
great deal of hope to older Americans and really to all
segments of our society who are aware of the problem, not just
older Americans, but baby boomers as well, who need to realize
the message you presented to the Congress today.
We want to welcome now--we will take testimony from our
other witnesses--Dr. Robert Butler, who, of course, is
President and CEO of International Longevity Center and also
Professor of Geriatrics at Mount Sinai. Dr. Butler, glad to
have you back.
STATEMENT OF ROBERT N. BUTLER, M.D., PRESIDENT AND CHIEF
EXECUTIVE OFFICER, INTERNATIONAL LONGEVITY CENTER--USA, NEW
YORK, NY
Dr. Butler. Thank you. I am very glad to be back here. I am
delighted that you have decided to hold such an important
hearing on ageism, the stereotyping and discrimination against
people simply because they are old, just as racism and sexism
accomplishes this with skin color and gender.
What I would like to do is submit for the record my longer
statement and just briefly comment upon first the extraordinary
range of discriminatory practices that occur in housing, health
care--that I have to say with great regret as a physician, that
it happens in my own field--and other services, in employment,
and in a topic you have addressed very effectively, elder
abuse, which is so painful to see on the American scene.
I also would comment on the fact that you will hear about
the effects of ageism directly on health itself from Dr. Becca
Levy, a little bit later this morning. Of course, happily, you
are addressing the issues of imagery, and I wanted to take a
moment to point out that it does not have to be negative.
The chart on the right, a negative image of aging, is the
``greedy geezers,'' which was the cover of a magazine, some
years back, but not long ago, but on the left is an example of
how one can portray older people, including older women, in
very positive ways. This is Kitty Carlisle Hart, a very
distinguished New Yorker, theatrical personality, who for many
years was the head of the Humanities Council in the State of
New York, and she is 92 years of age. This derives from the
wonderful book, Wise Women, by a wonderful American
photographer, Joyce Tenneson.
Now, I would like to turn directly and in a very practical
way, to some of the things we can do to deal with ageism? First
is certainly educating the public, and one of the things we can
do in the public schools is address the issues of human
development so that children see that life unfolds and that old
age has its special dignity and purposes.
We can also acquaint journalists more effectively by
immersion courses such as we have been fortunate to provide at
the International Longevity Center with funding from the Knight
Foundation, the New York Times Foundation, immersion meetings
with journalists to help instruct them on some of the issues
related to aging.
Second, if we could reduce the frailty and dementia, we
would make a huge step forward, and that is why I strongly
recommend the continuing support of the National Institutes of
Health and the National Institute on Aging. It would be
wonderful to make Alzheimer's disease a memory of the past,
something that we would, in fact, conquer.
Third is we must improve lifestyles in this country.
Unfortunately, we do not have as healthy a population as we
should, and George Burns, the wonderful comedian at 100 years
of age, said that people can actually carry out the old
person's act, they can actually allow themselves to
deteriorate, and this does not make an effective presentation
to the world at large. We can teach children early to address
greater lifestyle improvements.
As an effort in this direction, the International Longevity
Center brings together some of our nation's finest scientists
to address health issues. For example, maintaining healthy
lifestyles. We can all initiate healthy lifestyles everyday,
but how do we maintain them? Also we held a comparable workshop
on achieving cognitive vitality. What can we do in the way of
activities and actions which can help us maintain our own
intellectual functioning?
We not only publish these, but they also appear in
mainstream journals such as the Proceedings of the Mayo Clinic,
which, for instance, reaches over 150,000 physicians to help
them better understand how to advise their patients.
Fourth is the economic approach, not only in the ways in
which Ms. Roberts beautifully demonstrated in terms of
productive, responsible, active aging, of holding on to jobs or
volunteering, but also the realization she also commented upon
that finally older persons are becoming more attractive to
business. In fact, the Japanese refer to the ``silver
industries''--life insurance, health, pharmaceuticals, various
other industries that do a great deal of business with older
people.
Fifth, and this is very painful for me, we must change the
medical culture of ageism. This is how I first became
interested and first came to introduce the term. As a medical
student, to my shock older professors and others referred to
older people as ``crocks,'' and there are many other terms
which are in my testimony which I will not repeat here. We
clearly need to have Congress address the creation of a cadre
of teachers in every one of our 145 medical schools so that we
can have properly and effectively teaching physicians. There is
such a program called the Geriatric Academic Career Award which
should be expanded.
Sixth is we must support longitudinal studies of healthy
aging.
Seventh, we must enforce the Age Discrimination in
Employment Act.
Eighth, we must ask the question, will Madison Avenue grow
up before it grows old or will it grow old before it grows up?
Finally, we really must address the entire culture's
attitude. We must see a transformation of the way in which we
regard the stages of life including late life. Thank you very
much.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Butler follows:]
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The Chairman. Once again, thank you, Dr. Butler, for being
with us and for your contribution. Next, we would like to hear
from Mr. Robert Snyder, who has come to us from Dallas, who is
a senior partner at the J. Walter Thompson Specialized
Communications with the Mature Market Group in Dallas, and Mr.
Snyder, we are pleased to have your statement.
STATEMENT OF ROBERT SNYDER, SENIOR PARTNER, J. WALTER THOMPSON
SPECIALIZED COMMUNICATIONS, MATURE MARKET GROUP, DALLAS, TX
Mr. Snyder. Thank you very much, Senator. Before I begin my
testimony, I would like to direct your attention to the video I
would like to play to show you firsthand some good and some bad
of ads that are happening in this country as we speak.
The Chairman. Tell me again what is this?
Mr. Snyder. This video represents some commercials that are
being produced in this country by the media and advertising
that you will first see ads that are negative ageism or filled
with ageism, and then finally you will see some ads that are
really positive. So we wanted to show both sides of the story,
so if we could roll the tape.
The Chairman. OK.
[Video presentation.]
The Chairman. OK. Mr. Snyder, what does this show us?
Mr. Snyder. Well, first of all, it shows us that ageism is
the last socially condoned bigotry in our country. Awareness
about the problem is growing, but for the most part, our
awareness of this problem is in its infancy. The Mature Market
Group, a part of J. Walter Thompson Worldwide, sees many
advertisers and their agencies overlooking the largest,
wealthiest consumer group in a collective worshipful attitude
toward youth. Stereotyping older Americans is tolerated by many
industries in ways that would never be allowed for any other
group in our country.
The videotape provides a snapshot of how older adults are
portrayed in advertising today. While humor is a wonderful
sales tool, the Coke, Midas and Conseco ads over here used
humor to sell a product at the expense of a segment of our
population. Dignity and respect for elders in advertising is
limited. Artists and writers with limited life experiences meet
deadlines by creating ads that contain caricatures and
stereotypes.
Consequently, stereotypes are perpetuated. This was clearly
shown in the Butterfinger, Midas and Caprisun commercials. The
image of a diminished older body is also a significant part of
the stereotype portrayed for older Americans. However, we know
healthy lifestyle choices and better health care provide for a
healthier body at any age. The Lipitor and Martex ads which are
over here are a testament to this notion.
Finally, much of current advertising has viewers believing
that fun and enjoyment of life is limited to those under 40, as
was communicated by the Zima ad. While seniors often appear in
pharmaceutical, insurance and financial advertising, the
absence of seniors from other categories is significant. Ads
that create the full context of seniors' lives do resonate with
all generations as shown in the Allstate and Publix ads.
Since the founding of J. Walter Thompson in 1864,
advertisers have been looking for effective ways to communicate
with the target market. The discovery by advertisers that
consumers could be understood better through the use of
demographics and thus more accurately targeted by advertising
communications would prove to be the key to all advertising in
the final 50 years of the 20th century.
I would propose, however, that years of advertising and
marketing based on demographics has created stereotypical
images of this segment of the population, which are so
ingrained into our thinking that it is difficult to see that
the problem of ageism even exists.
The resulting status of marketing and advertising in the
United States can be summarized as follows: we have all been
placed into buckets according to age, income and generation.
The advertising world is dominated by youth, and companies with
products to sell are in general mesmerized by the need to
capture the youth market.
Those over the age of 50 are, for the most part, labeled as
spillover according to media buyers. The topic of aging is
durably encapsulated in a layer in myths in our society and
includes a confusing blend of truth and fancy. These single
phrase assertions usually have some link to reality, but are
always in significant conflict with recent scientific data:
You get old; you get sick. You get old; you lose interest
in intimacy. You get old; you can't understand technology. You
get old; you have no social life. The list goes on.
If we accept these myths and others like them, that act
itself becomes ageism in practice. It is our belief that the
public in general and advertising people in particular are
programmed to think that aging is a bad thing, and that once
you are past 40, you are over the hill and out of the game.
The Mature Market Group and Seniors Research Group
conducted a study of adults 62-plus to determine how a person's
life experiences shape their core values. Looking at human
behavior through values-based research is not only logical but
it is also statistically accurate. The key difference between
this segmentation and others based on life stage or
demographics is that values do not shift, while life stage and
demographics do.
Finally, the potential of values-based research is such
that marketers can truly begin marketing to an ageless market.
Why? Because values cut across all age groups. Values are
indeed age blind.
Future advertising must stem from a foundation that is
timeless and ageless. As individuals, we need to refuse to
stereotype the mature audience. As a society, we need to
appreciate the experience, wisdom and contributions they have
made. Let us harness this power and let that energy help sell
our products.
Let us begin with a national public service campaign to
raise awareness of ageism and help the generations appreciate
one another. I would like to conclude by expressing the
sentiment of many seniors with whom I have spoken, and is
demonstrated by this poster over here: What you are, I was.
What I am, you will be. Assume nothing. Expect anything.
Listen, learn; then we can talk.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Snyder and related materials
follow:]
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The Chairman. Thank you very much, Mr. Snyder. We are going
to have some questions about those ads, I know. I want to just
recognize for the record, we have been joined by our senior
ranking Republican member of the committee, Senator Larry
Craig, and by our good friend and colleague, Senator Debbie
Stabenow. I am glad to have them here.
Mr. Paul Kleyman, we are anxious to hear your testimony,
with the American Society on Aging in San Francisco. Thank you
for being with us.
STATEMENT OF PAUL KLEYMAN, EDITOR, AGING TODAY, AMERICAN
SOCIETY ON AGING, SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Mr. Kleyman. Well, first, let me thank you, Senators Breaux
and Craig and members of the Special Committee on Aging, and
especially your terrific staff, for shining a spotlight on this
issue. I do want to make clear that my comments this morning
are strictly my own views and not representative of the
American Society on Aging or the Journalist Exchange on Aging
for which I am national coordinator.
I believe that ageism is one of the last remaining
``ism's'' that can be openly expressed in our society. Whether
they are meant to be playful or pointed, a headline that
declares ``Geezer Nation,'' or an editor's reference to older
people as ``prune faces'' have no place in the news or in news
rooms.
Nowhere is ageism more evident than in the business
coverage of the media itself. Newspapers repeatedly state that
a television network's bottom line is most heavily damaged when
its programs attract older audiences. In fact, the term ``old
audience'' appeared and highlighted part of an article that ran
in the New York Times only about 2 years ago, or should I say
low-lighted the article?
Not long after that, The Wall Street Journal stressed in an
article, ``In the past 3 years the median age of NBC's audience
has risen to 45 from 41, a bad omen for advertising revenues.''
This March, an Associated Press article ran across the
country about how ABC was wooing David Letterman to replace Ted
Koppel's ``Nightline.'' The article noted that Letterman had
``long been unhappy with CBS' older prime time audience.'' All
of these jokes and denigrating comments have their roots in the
fact that television advertisers pay far less for every 1,000
older viewers that a program attracts than those in the coveted
18-35 age group. That is a program can win its rating's war but
still be considered a loser because its audience is older. It
will make less money.
Let me ask you to consider the phrase ``old audience'' for
a moment. If a newspaper ran an article today that said CBS had
to recover from having a black audience or a woman's audience,
this nation would be in an uproar. It is not long ago in the
history of racism that real estate interests discouraged home
sales to African Americans in certain areas, because they said
doing so would bring down the property values.
Well, that was a terrible self-perpetuating myth, and I
believe that the continued devaluing of older people is
tantamount to media redlining by age. Now, news organizations
are set on attracting younger audiences, and there is nothing
wrong with that, except that these efforts often come with an
irrational bias against both older readers and older
journalists.
Let me give you two examples, one of each. One reporter at
a national news organization told me that until a couple of
years ago, he dealt with an editor who wanted to minimize
photos of older people in stories. This editor thought it a big
joke to call older citizens prune faces, and the news staff
referred to this as the editor's ``no prune-face rule.''
Another example: a prominent study of economic forces in
the news commended news executives who ``unceremoniously ax the
old warhorses to make way for something new.'' At least
sometimes, though, experience does count, such as after the
terrorist attacks of last September 11. A former producer at
ABC news noted in a recent article that ``the only time older
people are given their due respect is when it is time for
experts, experts, experts.''
She said that such a moment for older experts came after 9/
11. At that time of national crisis, Americans wanted to hear
from those with knowledge, seasoned by wisdom and experience.
What about at newspapers? A study titled ``Age and the
Press'' that was released this year by Harvard University's
Shorenstein Center on The Press Politics and Public Policy
stated that ``in their market strategies, newspapers are paying
nearly no interest to readers in the upper middle ages, in
spite of the fact that this is the fastest increasing group of
readers.'' That means the aging baby boomers are being
dismissed by newspaper marketers.
Now, I do not want to suggest that the financial issues
facing the newspaper industry are uncomplicated. However, the
scapegoating of older people is bad business, and it is poor
journalism, and it is wrong.
Before closing, I want to emphasize that there is some good
news in many American news rooms. I coordinate a group called
the Journalist Exchange on Aging which was formed about 10
years ago. In the last 10 years, I have seen a slow but steady
growth in the number of reporters devoted to the coverage of
issues in aging, including, by the way, reporters at The New
York Times and The Wall Street Journal. There is some fine work
being done there.
As news organizations aim to secure their economic growth,
I believe it is also critical for them to look for ways not to
stunt the growth of their coverage about major social
developments, especially about the longevity revolution. Thank
you very much.
The Chairman. Thank you very much, Mr. Kleyman, and
finally, but not least, Ms. Becca Levy. Dr. Levy.
STATEMENT OF DR. BECCA LEVY, PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF
EPIDEMIOLOGY AND PUBLIC HEALTH, YALE UNIVERSITY, NEW HAVEN, CT
Dr. Levy. Mr. Chairman and members of the Senate Special
Committee on Aging, I appreciate your inviting me to testify on
a pressing issue, image of aging in media and marketing.
My research has focused on how the health of older adults
is affected by negative images of aging that are promoted in
part by the media and marketing. The particular study I will
describe to you today found that negative images of aging may
have an adverse effect on the survival of older adults. Before
describing the study in more detail, I would like to give a
brief background to it.
In a series of earlier experiments, in which older
individuals were subliminally exposed to aging images in the
form of stereotypes, we found that compared to those exposed to
positive stereotypes of aging, those exposed to negative
stereotypes of aging tended to function worse on a number of
mental and physical outcomes, such as memory performance and on
their cardiovascular response to stress.
Elderly individuals may be particularly vulnerable to the
effects of negative stereotypes of aging. First, the
stereotypes are largely acquired before old age, starting in
childhood when they are not yet directly relevant to the
individuals exposed to them: as a result, they tend to be
uncritically accepted.
By the time old age is reached, the negative stereotypes
are in place. They have been internalized and reinforced over a
number of decades, thereby making it difficult to mount a
psychological defense against them.
The second reason elderly individuals may be sensitive to
the effects of negative stereotypes of aging is that as we have
found in our research, they can operate without awareness, thus
making it difficult for elders to monitor them.
Which brings us to our recent finding that I would like to
share with you. This study funded by the National Institute on
Aging and the Brookdale Foundation was just published in the
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
In 1975, when the Ohio Longitudinal Study of Aging and
Retirement began, most of the residents age 50 and older of
Oxford, OH were asked whether they agree or disagree with
questions that measure their images of aging. These self-
perceptions of aging questions included: Do you agree or
disagree that as you get older, you are less useful?
Participants were interviewed six times over the 20 years
of the project. The 660 individuals included in our analyses
were matched to survival information that we acquired from the
National Death Index.
As can be seen in the chart, we found that those who
expressed a more positive self-perception of aging tended to
have a survival advantage of 7.5 years over those who expressed
more negative self-perception of aging.
That is, when we look at the amount of time it took half of
the people in each group to die, the difference between the two
groups was 7\1/2\ years.
The strength of our finding is demonstrated by those in the
more positive self-perception of aging group having better
survival than those in the more negative self-perception of
aging group, among men as well as women, among those with
better as well as worse functional health, and among those with
lower as well as higher education.
When we adjusted for a number of variables at baseline,
including age and functional health, we found that those in the
positive self-perception of aging group still tended to have a
significant survival advantage over those in the negative self-
perception of aging group.
We also examined a mechanism by which this process
occurred. More negative self-perceptions of aging predicted
reduced will to live, which in turn tended to contribute to a
shorter lifespan. In other words, those with more negative
self-perceptions of aging were more likely to consider their
lives to be ``worthless,'' ``empty,'' and ``hopeless,'' whereas
those with more positive self-perceptions of aging were more
likely to select the opposite terms of ``worthy'', ``full,''
and ``hopeful.''
In closing, I should note that although the prevalence of
negative images of aging is not entirely due to the media and
marketing, they seem to be the sources that are the most
persuasive, identifiable, systematic and profit driven.
Extolling youthfulness while demeaning the old helps to
generate images that, as our research suggests, may have
devastating consequences.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Levy follows:]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 83476.057
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] 83476.058
The Chairman. Thank you very much, Dr. Levy, and thank all
the members of the panel, and I just have one or two questions
and I want my colleagues to have time to ask questions.
Ms. Roberts, thank you for a very powerful statement. I
mean one of the things that you said was that the entertainment
business is one of the worst perpetrators of this bigotry in
being biased against older Americans, especially women. I mean
I guess in order to solve the problem, you have to understand
why the problem exists. So I guess my question to you would be
why do you think that there is this attitude in Hollywood in
the entertainment business that somehow having older Americans
in more prominent roles is bad, I guess, for the bottom line?
I mean is it because only young people are making those
decisions and do not understand? I mean I guess the question is
why do you think it is like that? I mean it was not like that
always; was it?
Ms. Roberts. No, not at all. I think you have to address
the advertising world. I think Madison Avenue, the image maker,
tells you not only what to watch but what size you should be,
like a size zero or minus, all of which is so negative on every
possible level.
The Chairman. Do they think that is what the general public
wants to see? I mean I quite frankly see some of the ads of
some of the size women that you are speaking to, and I think
they all look sick, but I mean apparently they must be selling
something that way.
Ms. Roberts. There is no photograph in any magazine that I
can think of other than AARP that shows a woman over the age of
45 unless she is selling Depends or Viagra. [Laughter.]
Am I not correct about that?
Mr. Snyder. Correct. That is correct.
Ms. Roberts. I think it starts there. They determine what
shows they would like to see on television, and the networks
make their money in advertising, and so it comes down to their
pocketbooks.
The Chairman. You mentioned friends and colleagues of
yours, like Joan Crawford and Barbara Stanwyck, and real
outstanding women actors, who are seen in very positive roles,
you know, well into their careers. But it seems like that has
changed; has it not?
Ms. Roberts. Totally. I mean in the movies that I can think
of where Michael Douglas is married to Gwenyth Paltrow or Sean
Connery is married to Catherine Jones, who is Michael Douglas'
wife actually, it is wrong. I mean a 65- year old man does not
have to have a 30-year old wife, although they might prefer it,
only because they have been taught to think that way. I am at
the peak of my life, and I am in my seventies. It is so wrong
to dismiss us, to discard us. I mean they like to airbrush us
out of existence.
The Chairman. You know one of the things that I pointed out
in the opening statement, I say to my colleagues, you know, it
may be because of the writers. I mean the people who produce
the stuff, I mean stuff meaning in a very fine sense of the
word. Seventy-seven out of the 122 prime time TV series did not
employ a single writer over the age of 50. So if you have the
writers who are all younger than we are, you know, it is kind
of an understandable reason why they are producing stuff that
does not incorporate older Americans in those roles.
Well, Doris, thank you so very much.
Ms. Roberts. I can tell you that if you were in my
business, you would be out of a job. [Laughter.]
Would that not be terrible?
The Chairman. No job security there or here probably.
[Laughter.]
Senator Craig, questions.
Senator Craig. Well, he has more hair, Doris, and it is
darker. So I would have been out of a job earlier.
Ms. Roberts. Absolutely.
Senator Craig. Either that or I would have had a little
tucking.
Ms. Roberts. A little tuck.
Senator Craig. Little dye.
Ms. Roberts. Of course.
Senator Craig. Little planning.
Ms. Roberts. Is that not shocking that people, young women
in their twenties and thirties, men as well, are having Botox
put all over their faces and facelifts because they are afraid
of getting older at that tender age. That is----
Senator Craig. Well, what they do not understand and what
they are missing in this whole communications effort is
something that I did last Monday that no 20-year-old or 30-
year-old is going to get a chance to do. I picked up a
granddaughter from her first day in kindergarten and took her
to McDonald's for lunch, and that was the most rejuvenating
youthful experience I have had in a long time. Somehow we need
to communicate to the American people that you are at the prime
of your life, Doris, and there is this phenomenal abundance in
life that can come at all ages.
Ms. Roberts. That is right.
Senator Craig. Certainly, Mr. Chairman, I thank you for
holding this hearing today. Let me ask unanimous consent that
my statement be a part of the record. I thank you all for being
here to testify today.
We are grabbed up in the myth of Madison Avenue that
somehow youth is the only thing that sells. Yet it is the
senior community of America that has the largest chunk of
disposable income today. Somehow I do not think they get the
picture very well, or at least they get a picture that only
they want to project, and I hope that we can adjust and change
that some, at least by our bully pulpits and certainly you by
yours.
It would be very helpful, I think, to all of us to
understand those kinds of balances. Dr. Butler, you had
mentioned in your testimony that it is a myth that older
Americans are affluent. About 70 percent of older American
households have an annual income of less than 35,000. Have you
done any forecasting of what the future household for baby
boomers would be, at least what the future holds as it relates
to income? Because while I have talked about general affluency
and fixed incomes and those that do have spending capability,
statistics do bear out a fact, and those that you have stated.
Dr. Butler. Our center has not yet addressed it, but, as
you know, with the declining economy and the problems in the
stock market and 401(k)s, many of the baby boomers are feeling
quite frightened and unprepared, and that means that the
oldest, now 56, is just 9 years away from turning 65. So I
think it is a topic, as you correctly imply, that must be
addressed: the fear of growing older and the fear of growing
older poor.
Senator Craig. Well, we have seen a dramatic--let me put it
this way. We are seeing a shift now in those that are older who
are now choosing to work longer or work part-time to supplement
their incomes, and while some might view that as negative, many
who do it, while they first thought it was a negative
experience, in my visits with them have found it a rejuvenating
experience, that it kind of fills their life again. It gives
them a kind of energy that they had experienced in maybe the
peak of their career or the career they retired from earlier,
and that, you know, if their health holds obviously, and many
now it does, it is a new dynamic that we clearly need to think
about and in that there is a frustration of bias also.
Dr. Butler. Absolutely.
Senator Craig. The question of working in the marketplace.
Dr. Butler. If you imagine it were 1900, and the average
life expectancy was 47, we might be discussing the prejudices
against 50-year-olds and 55-year-olds and whether they can work
or not. In truth, it is hard to imagine 69 million baby boomers
with all that skill, all that experience and knowledge, sitting
by idly, collecting Social Security, using Medicare, without
continuing to contribute, and we are beginning to see a slight
shift of people staying in the workforce longer, and living
longer, they probably should, for their own best interest and
the country's, indeed work longer.
But we do find in our studies that only 20 percent of adult
Americans know that Social Security phase-in to full
eligibility has now been moved to 67. So many of them are
operating on the assumption that they will get their retirement
at 65. So we do have to have an educational effort here to try
to address the issue of working longer and, of course, part of
that will actually promote health. We know that being involved,
having a purpose, does improve health.
Senator Craig. Mr. Chairman, one last question, if I could,
of Dr. Levy. How did you decide to do research on how the
health of older adults is affected by negative images? What
brought you to that?
Dr. Levy. Initially, I became very interested in the topic
when I spent some time in Japan. I noticed how differently it
seemed like the elders were being treated in Japan. I started
thinking, this country has the longest life span in the world;
could there be some connection? So I think that is actually how
I started becoming interested in this line of research.
Senator Craig. OK. How are you using or how do you plan to
use that kind of research?
Dr. Levy. Well, I hope to continue to look at what is the
mechanism, but also I think it is important to start thinking
about how to actually change images of aging. I think that a
good next step if, this kind of research continues to yield
similar results, is to think about how we can actually promote
the positive images of aging and teach skills for people to
monitor the negative stereotypes.
Senator Craig. Well, I have had the good fortune to spend
some time in the Orient and I know that age is revered. Thank
you all very much. Ms. Roberts, I too love Raymond. [Laughter.]
[The prepared statement of Senator Craig follows:]
Prepared Statement of Senator Larry Craig
Good Morning. I want to thank Senator Breaux for holding
this important hearing on the image of aging in the media and
the marketing industry. It's important that we raise awareness
of the problem of societal bias aging and old age in the
country.
Seniors are one of our greatest resources. We need to
recognize the benefits that we all gain from our seniors'
wisdom and experience.
The unrealistic images of aging the media tends to portray
are a negative influence on our aging population. We often see
the stereotypical picture of the feeble, helpless senior in
many commercials and ads. In fact, only 4.25 percent of seniors
65 and older live in nursing homes. This statistic shows that
the overwhelming majority of our seniors are living
independently.
It's so important to our aging population to have accurate
representation in the media. Realistic messages targeted to
seniors that actually show what its like to be a senior today--
strong, vital, contributing members of society will help to
encourage seniors to take better care of themselves.
The media and marketing industry are basing decisions that
concern seniors on outdated consumer research. We need to do
all we can to encourage these industries to devote more
resources into studying demographics. It's vitally important
that all industries accurately reflect changes in aging
demographics, social demands and culture. With 77 million baby
boomers approaching retirement age, this group is too important
to ignore.
More importantly, we need to broaden the definition of what
it means to grow older in America. Its time we stop thinking of
aging as the end of life, but as a continuation of living. Most
of us are living longer, healthier, active and productive lives
and its time the media and marketing industry start accurately
reflecting how our seniors are living today.
Again, I'd like to thank the Chairman for holding this
important hearing and I look forward to hearing the testimony
of our witnesses.
The Chairman. Senator Stabenow, any questions?
Senator Stabenow. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to
thank you first for holding this committee hearing. This is a
very important topic and I appreciate your doing this. Thank
you to everyone, and, Doris, I have thoroughly enjoyed your
many roles over the years.
Ms. Roberts. Thank you.
Senator Stabenow. It is wonderful to have you here. Just a
couple of observations, and I welcome any comments related to
them. I find it very contradictory when we look at this
situation. I agree with everything that has been said in terms
of media portrayals, but we are also in a world where we go to
constituents for support, and the majority of people who vote
are older Americans, which I find interesting in the context of
this discussion.
There is great power in older Americans from the standpoint
of voting and participating and putting people into office who
make decisions that are very important regarding resources and
whether we go to war and so on. It seems to me somehow we need
to bring that power to bear in addressing some of the issues
that you are talking about in a different kind of way.
I was also thinking about the whole debate of what is
elderly now? I look at my mother who is 76 and in two golf
leagues, and uses a computer very effectively and watches C-
SPAN and debates me on every issue, and she does a wonderful
job of being aware, and I do not consider her elderly in any
sense of the word. She is a very vivacious woman.
So I think our whole concept of what is elderly is
changing, because we are talking about living longer, being
healthier, and are viewing age 60, age 70, age 80 in a
different light as we get older and are still very active and
involved.
When the Older Women's League did a study on Medicare, they
talked about the fact that when we look at Social Security, and
particularly Medicare, particularly for those over age 85, it
is women, we see. So I know and I appreciate the comments
today, because I think we are particularly looking at
stereotypes of women, of older women, not in every case, but in
many cases. Doris, you were talking about the really outrageous
position that somehow a man in his sixties or seventies or even
eighties ought to be married to a 20-year-old or 30-year-old. I
hope he has got a lot of Viagra.
But I guess I find it--I want to just say for the record--
that I really do believe that this is very much an issue for
women, for older women, as a result of what the media is doing,
and is something that women of all ages, I think, need to be
concerned about.
I think there is one exception, though, in advertising,
that while we see advertising and the push for younger people
in television and so on, that the fastest growing part of
advertising is prescription drugs which is geared to older
adults. I would just say as someone involved heavily in the
issue of prescription drugs that I am concerned that we now see
about two-and-a-half times more being spent by the
pharmaceutical industry in advertising than on research. It is
a very sales-focused industry now, very much focused on sales
targeted to seniors for example, the purple pill.
I think in some way this advertising feeds into image of
aging in terms of medicine and the need to be younger and the
need to take medicine and prescription drugs and all of these
kinds of things, even though obviously there are many
prescription drugs that are critical and lifesaving.
But I believe very strongly that we need to be concerned
about the sales and marketing end in the pharmaceutical
industry now as it relates to prescription drugs, because this
is an industry that understands where their target is, and are,
I believe, driving up the prices of medicine as a result of
heavily advertising and spending more on advertising. So I
would welcome any comments there.
I would just simply ask what you believe other than holding
hearings, which are so significant in terms of the bully
pulpit, are there other recommendations that you have for us
that we should be focused on in order to address what I believe
is going to continue to be a growing challenge and issue?
The Chairman. Anybody have a comment on Senator Stabenow's
statement?
Mr. Kleyman. I could add a couple of notes. Thank you for
asking that question. In terms of the news business, I mean,
first, I think there needs to be more public attention to this
issue, and the Special Committee on Aging has just made a great
start on that. It needs to be followed up by advocates for
older people across the country, and people individually have
to begin to stand up and say they are mad as hell and will not
take it anymore. But also, they have to begin to challenge the
defensive economic arguments from the news industry.
A second point I would like to make is that the news
business itself in terms of ageism in the news needs to invest
in more research to reassess their very skewed view of the
numbers they are coming up with.
For example, an article published by the Newspaper
Association of America about a year ago reported that while
only 40 percent of young adults in the United States read a
newspaper everyday, the figure is much higher in other
countries. For example, in Canada, it is 82 percent. Is that
not interesting?
One financial expert--let me add a note on that--the reason
is that in other countries, they are finding that where the
percentage of younger daily newspaper readers is higher, they
found that newspapers are used much more in the family on a
daily basis and in the schools than happens in the United
States. So there is a solution to reaching younger viewers
without denigrating older viewers.
One financial expert in that article stated that
``newspapers abroad do far more research to understand reader
consumer behavior than publishers in the United States.'' In
fact, they said it is as low as two cents per reader in the
U.S. with some newspapers.
A third point is that schools of journalism and mass
communication really need to weigh in on aging and other cross-
cutting social issues that are under-covered in American
journalism like sexism and the women's issues that are coming
up.
The Chairman. Dr. Butler. Let me get Dr. Butler in.
Dr. Butler. I would like briefly to support Senator
Stabenow's point that the issues of age are very much the
issues of women. They may live now 5.4 years longer, but they
pay a price of more chronic illness, more poverty, more elder
abuse, and 80 percent of the individuals in nursing homes are
women. So many of the negative attitudes toward age really
focus very intensely upon women, and I think that is very
important to emphasize that.
The Chairman. I want to follow up on a point that Debbie
Stabenow made with regard to it seems that with regard to the
Congress and politicians who get elected by the masses, that we
pay a great deal of attention to older Americans, and Debbie
pointed out very correctly, because they vote.
I mean that is the highest participatory segment of our
population are older Americans. Younger Americans unfortunately
do not vote. Therefore, Congress tends to pay a great deal of
attention to older Americans for the very pragmatic reason as
well as the esoteric correct reasons, but because they vote,
and if you do not pay attention to them, they are not going to
vote for you. You are not going to have a job.
So it is a very pragmatic connection which you made with
regard to elected officials, but it seems like there is a
disconnect when it comes to the entertainment business and
media and advertising, who do not pay attention to elderly, and
what motivates them I would suggest is economics, and I think
they have the false impression that we are going to target a
segment of our population who spends the most money, and that
is 18 to whatever. 18-35 category they seem to target. If you
look at all the sitcoms with the possible exception of Doris
Roberts, ``Everybody Loves Raymond,'' I mean almost all of
those in prime time are basically young people in that
category, and I think it is because of the economic ties.
Let me ask somebody just for a little bit of a discussion
on the ads that we saw. I mean before people spend millions of
dollars, before Coca-Cola spends hundreds of millions of
dollars running those ads, which you all rated as a very ageism
negative ad toward how it portrayed older people, and the Midas
commercial which was deplorable, they have had to test market
those ads. They do not spend hundreds of millions of dollars
without saying the ad is going to work.
So the question is what do they find when they test market
these ads that we find today as being very discomforting and
not humorous and depicting seniors in a very negative way? Did
they not test market those ads?
Mr. Snyder. One would think that they would test market all
their ads and, in fact, sometimes ads are test marketed, but
they may not be test marketed to the right segment of the
population. They are not test marketed against those who might
be offended.
The Chairman. So they test market in the Coca-Cola ad to
the group of people they think drink coke and the people who
buy mufflers.
Mr. Snyder. One of the things that we are finding that is a
problem with focus groups and research such as this is that
people tend to give you the answers you want to hear when you
are in that particular focus group. In fact, there is research
now to support that when you are doing focus groups, people
will respond positively toward what you are trying to get them
to talk about, but when they actually are in the privacy of
their own home, it is a different story.
So the coke ad is funny because in this audience this
morning, I know that a lot of people wanted to laugh, and they
did not. Every time I play that ad in an audience, everybody
breaks out laughing, and I tell them what is funny in a group
setting is not funny in the privacy of your own home or in the
privacy of your own mind, and it may be offensive to you, but
because it is almost in a comedic situation, almost like it is
a comedian standing up in front of the audience, where we have
permission to laugh at ourselves, then it is OK.
The Chairman. If you test marketed that ad or got a
reaction from older Americans, what type of reaction would you
expect from them?
Mr. Snyder. Actually we have done some research on some of
those ads, limited research, and we have gotten mixed
reactions. It depends on where a person's values are. I will
come back to that point. If the values do not allow them to be
offended by it, then they will think it is a fine ad. What we
find interesting is that the younger audiences are the ones who
are offended by them the most.
The Chairman. Oh, really.
Mr. Snyder. Yes. That tends to be part of what we have
seen. Some of the younger boomers and GenXers, they see that
coke ad and they say that is offensive to older people. We have
mixed reactions from older people, older individuals, about
that particular ad. When it comes to the Zima ad and the other
ads that we showed, clearly they are offensive to older
individuals, and you wonder to yourself, I wonder, how did that
ever get past the president of an organization, how did that
get past the marketing director of that company? I will come
back to this one very simple fact: we are the product of what
we see on our airwaves everyday.
We are so inundated with information that we receive
continually, that we subliminally accept it somehow, and
eventually it contributes to a lack of awareness. We have to
raise awareness. It is not that younger people want to create
ads that offend anybody. That is a fact, but we have to raise
the awareness of a younger copy writer, a younger creative
design person, so they have some sense of actually walking in
that person's shoes as compared to making up a creation that is
based on a story ``I heard in college.''
The Chairman. Senator Stabenow.
Senator Stabenow. Well, Mr. Chairman, when you were
speaking about the economics, and I am sure the decisions are
being made for economic reasons, but I find it still strange,
because when I think of my 22-year-old daughter, I spend a
whole lot more money than she does. I mean the idea that they
are marketing to 18-year-olds or 22-year-olds because they have
more disposable income is not rational. I am not sure. I find
this whole thing very perplexing, even though I am sure that is
what they are thinking. I mean it has to be economics.
The other point, just a fact I just want raise, because I
want to go back to the advertising on prescription drugs. More
was spent last year on advertising Vioxx than on Pepsi, Coke or
Budweiser beer.
Mr. Snyder. Yes.
Senator Stabenow. Did you want to comment?
Mr. Snyder. I did want to say, and I have forgotten what I
was going to say. So that is fine.
Senator Stabenow. Well, we were talking about the 18 to 22-
year-olds.
Mr. Snyder. Oh. Companies are for whatever reason, and
there has been research conducted overseas as well that
supports this same notion, that companies are mesmerized by
capturing the youth market, because they feel that if they do
not grab the youth market now, they will lose market share in
the future, and they assume, companies have assumed that people
over the age of 50 are theirs for life.
In other words, I really do not have to market to that
person because we are going to get you anyway. You are set in
your ways--stereotype--you are not going to change, you are
always going to buy a product. We also have research--there is
research that shows that that is not the case, that people over
50 are very willing to change products given the right
information.
Senator Stabenow. Interesting.
The Chairman. One of the networks just said, and they were
contacted on this whole question of ageism, and they reported
asking AARP about their thoughts about the ageism problem that
we are talking about here today, and their response apparently
was that ageism is not that big of a problem.
Do you all agree with them on that? I mean are we just
doing this and we should not be doing it? If AARP tells me it
is not a problem, should we just shut this hearing down and go
somewhere else?
Mr. Snyder. I will address that, and let the rest of the
panel address it as well. I am not sure who they spoke with at
AARP, but I cannot imagine that AARP would take that position.
So I would ask them to check their source and go back and find
out.
The Chairman. Dr. Butler, do you have any thoughts on it?
Dr. Butler. I have a very similar reaction. I think that I
would call Bill Novelli, who is the head of AARP, and ask him
directly. I doubt very much if they would take that position.
The Chairman. Ms. Roberts, what about your thoughts about
AARP on that? Do you have any?
Ms. Roberts. Well, I question this. If there were laws
protecting discrimination against sexism and racism and
religious freedom, why is there not a law to protect the, you
know, the horror of the way we are described in every magazine
and newspapers and on television and movies? Why cannot that
exist? Why cannot we start there? Because it is a powerful
thing that we are dealing with. I mean it is insane.
The Chairman. I mean there are laws against age
discrimination, but I mean apparently on the ways that
entertainment business and all of this handles these things, it
does not run contrary to the laws on the books. Anybody have
any thoughts about this with regard to the existing laws on the
book with regard to age discrimination? They are there, but
apparently we are seeing a lot of factual discrimination.
Dr. Butler. Even in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights of the United Nations--it goes back to 1948--age was
left out. For various reasons, it has been reintroduced
recently, particularly by the former president of Ireland, Mrs.
Robinson, who introduced the concept of looking at age
discrimination and age imagery within the world family. So I
think there are beginning to be some people that are beginning
to address this.
The Chairman. I would point out, too, my staff has just
provided me with information that pointed out in Los Angeles,
Ms. Roberts, that AARP has joined as co-counsel in 23 class
action age bias lawsuits that have been filed in California
state court by television writers age 40 and over against
television networks and studios and talent agencies alleging
workplace age discrimination. I mean these are writers 40 years
of age having to go to court to fight age discrimination which
shows you the extent of the problem.
So I mean they are active in that. I mean they have asked
the court to dismantle the alleged discriminatory hiring system
and asking for more than $200 million in damages.
Well, I think that this has been a very important hearing
in my perspective. I think that we have heard some excellent
testimony. I mean, Dr. Levy, your point really being, I think,
a positive attitude is a very positive contributing factor to
how long we live, and people who have that attitude, in fact,
are living longer despite some of the images that they may have
portrayed to them, and everybody's testimony has been so very
helpful.
Ms. Roberts, again, you have access to the bully pulpit and
thank you for taking of your own personal time to talk to us
about something you believe in very strongly. Sometimes it is
very easy if you are comfortable to just remain comfortable and
not rock the boat, but as your grandchildren said, you are a
rocker.
Ms. Roberts. I am and I am glad to know that I have more
than 7 years of my life to look forward to.
[Laughter.]
The Chairman. Well, with that, this committee will be
adjourned and thank our witnesses for being with us.
[Whereupon, at 10:50 a.m., the committee was adjourned.]
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