[The changed picture of the aged in advertising--results of a recent study 1985]

The proportion of advertisements relevant to older people in selected papers has increased. Advertisements including this age group have increased considerably, especially in TV and women's magazines. The image of older people is more positive, to the extent that they are not so isolated. Also the enlarged number of illustrations with married couples, job-fellows or social gatherings shows that these three important spheres of life are also fully assigned to older people. Professions are also being seen more often. The outcome of "Markenkompass 1982" shows that older people are far more receptive to advertising than younger ones. As a consequence of this it should be noted that in 1985 advertising experts more often aroused additional demands from this open-mindedness, for example out of ties with tradition, and gave the older people they depicted a more open character than in 1975. If we look at the function older people in advertising, this up-to-date character is nevertheless coupled with the stereotype attributes of wisdom and experience and therefore receives a more positive valuation. The presentation of older people in advertising is, by the way, very realistic. The conspectus now shows a much more positive "image of the old" than was to be found ten years ago. An analysis of the products offered, however, shows that the advertising experts still regard the older primarily as consumers of medical products, even if in a reduced form.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)