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Memories of the 28th Century

Targetting Older People

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I have noticed that advertisers seem to have no respect for the intelligence and knowledge of people of retirement age and older. The products advertised for seniors assume that the seniors are either in poor health or mentally retarded. And I can’t forget that woman with the creaky voice who tells us that she has fallen and can’t get up.

There must be people who buy such things, but they probably were taken in by fraudulent advertising when they were younger also, so they probably have Apple computers, electric cars, and they probably drink bottled water and waste money on other over-hyped products.

Do marketers think that people lose all intelligence when they hit 60 or 65 years of age? They should remember that those people, and people who are even older were mart enough to avoid early death, unlike the people we read about every day.

Fortunately, some of the ads are downright funny. Medic Alert is one thing that I wonder about the market for. Most people carry cell phones or they are in places where there are other people. Carrying around another communication device seems unnecessary. I suppose that for people who tend to fall down and who are in very poor physical condition they might be useful, but there are ways to get up, even for people who are rather weak, and, if they aren’t weak, getting up can be easy, even if there is injury.

Even worse than that are the ads for life insurance. I discovered decades ago that life insurance is a scam, but it has been around so long that there are no laws against it. People who sell life insurance make good money, and they contribute to politicians to protect their business.

Here are ads for 11 products for seniors living alone, and some of them would be useful for people of any age, while a couple of them are simply not very useful.
https://www.seniorsafetyreviews.com/...-living-alone/
And this is another set of ads that were aimed at people who are physically not well, but there is nothing that is especially for old people.
https://www.el-well.com/products-to-...-older-adults/

A few weeks ago, I suggested a shooting stick for an amazingly obese guy who had been given a walker. He should walk, but walkers are inconvenient, except when some truly needs one, while shooting sticks and simply canes most of the time, but if someone wants to sit down, they are available.
https://www.amazon.com/Stick-Chair/s?k=Stick+Chair But he isn’t elderly; he is just in poor condition, and shooting sticks weren’t developed for or marketed to senior citizens; they are for hunters who get sick of standing and waiting, so they want to sit down.

I don’t watch TV very much, so I am sure that others have seen worse or funnier ads that were aimed at senior citizens. It was interesting that when I searched for memory enhancers, the results didn’t feature elderly prominently, but students were listed above seniors, and there was an interesting article from webmd. https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/...th-supplements

This article also warns against reliance on most memory supplements, but it does point out that omega3 fatty acids are helpful; as are the oils in some seeds, but this article is not aimed at older people, and it isn’t advertisement. Looking at this in combination with the ads tells the story; marketing hype is misleading at best.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-...th-supplements .

I am not the only one who has noticed that advertising aimed at senior citizens is bad.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90341477...is-so-terrible This is a rather good article, but it makes me wonder even more why products marketed to older people are so poorly advertised. Maybe the marketing campaigns are assigned to the least experienced people, so they don’t realize that insulting people is not a good tactic for getting them as customers.

Don’t usually think about ads for things that I do not buy, but recently I have seen many ads for dating sites for people of greater ages. That gets me to wonder if that is seen as a potential profit booster, or what.

Comments

  1. tailor STATELY's Avatar
    Too true... so many spam calls I don't even bother with the "house" phone. I love that our "house" phone even labels the majority of calls as "Potential Spam" (lol). I used to just unplug the phone when my wife was away... it's her phone, and we still would get messages that we could peruse at our leisure. She's since asked that I don't unplug it anymore (ok). 4- calls of "Potential Spam" from 8:00 am to 10:00 am today. I've counselled my wife, who still likes to answer an occasional call, not to say the word "YES" to anyone during a conversation (even confirming her name) and NEVER call back a number that hangs up... or risk scamming and other repercussions of that type. I used to mess with the spammers but don't even give them my time any more.

    "Do marketers think that people lose all intelligence when they hit 60 or 65 years of age?"... I guess they haven't learned that 65 is the new 40 (lol). Yet there are millions of dollars scammed off seniors still... I hear and read of victims in our area every now and then. Spammers know as faculties diminish so too does common sense.

    Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
    tailor STATELY
  2. PeterL's Avatar
    Yes, there are stories about people getting scammed. I wonder if there are age statistics on the victims. People who are 65 years old weren't born yesterday. I wouldn't be surprised if there are relatively more scam victims among the 20's and 30'.
    https://www.statista.com/statistics/...age-in-the-us/
    and
    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/25/y...s-warning.html "with 44 percent of people ages 20 to 29 losing money to fraud, more than double the 20 percent of people ages 70 to 79." That's worse than I expected.
  3. MANICHAEAN's Avatar
    In the UK the advertising for "senior citizens" revolves around: writing a will, long term care, walk in baths, and stair chair lifts.

    As for the scam calls I invariably play a doddery100 years old and whatever they are trying to sell or con, inform them that I have lost my cat. As they are paying for the call I have sometimes been able to stretch them out for 30 minutes.

    As for dating sites, I am currently researching for an ex-carnival queen in Rio as a carer, in sheltered housing overlooking Copacabana beach.
  4. Danik 2016's Avatar
    Lol!
    Ex-carnival queen, Mani! No way! Carnival this year is going to be celebrated on 4/21/2022, whether one likes it or not..
    No matter what Gregorius intended. So get your costume.
  5. PeterL's Avatar
    I used to Occasionally string them along, but I don't have the time, and most of them are too dull to make it worthwhile. Most of the calls I get are for medic-alert or life insurance. The callers and the advertisers were born yesterday in aa relative sense, and apparently they don't realize that most people are smarter than they are.
  6. tonywalt's Avatar
    I string them along. And if from Nigeria, well, it gets a little crazy.
  7. Danik 2016's Avatar
    Had a closer look at the senior products and I had to lol. Never heard about some of them for example fall detection products, which can be very helpful. As can security bars, but those we can install here too. Gorilla mats are not difficult to find either. Loved the cordless electric kettle, but don´t feel in need of electric tin or can opener. Was enchanted by the doorbell as it offers security for all ages. And lastly was gratified to learn that the innocent digital clock I keep in the living room fits all the description and shows the temperature into the bargain.
  8. PeterL's Avatar
    But targetting old people means they can double the price.
  9. Danik 2016's Avatar
    Oh, I see!My Dementia Clock was expensive enough! But here there are not many specific products for old people. There is a sort of cell phone, more designed for retarded indeed.
    And the retired civil servants are massively offered loans. It is a good business for the banks, because the ratings can be deduced directly from the client´s pension.
  10. PeterL's Avatar
    What is a dementia clock? Is that where your onset of dementia was scheduled?

    I just searchd for such things, and the prices made me gasp. Then I got to the ones that weren't for the elderlyy, ad the prices were half as much.
    Updated 05-02-2022 at 09:25 AM by PeterL