growing depictions of the aging population in popular culture, media, and advertising.
Book: Berger, K. (2016). Invitation to the Life Span. New York, New York: Worth Publishers.
With the population of older adults on the rise, there are growing depictions of the aging population in popular culture, media, and advertising. For this assignment, you are asked to find 4 examples of adults in advertisement, critiquing them through the lens of accurate adult development, as well comparing and contrasting them.
Instructions:
Find 4 advertisements for or about individuals who are in late adulthood (over the age of 65). Examples could be print, commercial, or web based. In a PowerPoint presentation, present your examples using one slide for each example. For each slide, include either: a picture of the advertisement, a link and screenshot of the video if you are using a commercial, or an Internet link and screenshot of the website if you are using a web based advertisement.
In the “notes” section of the PowerPoint presentation, critique the ad by address the following questions:
- How are the advertisers trying to depict older adults and/or the aging process?
- What biases do the advertisers display about older adults or the aging process?
- Point to information in the textbook (and at least one other scholarly source-from the NU library) that either confirm or oppose this depiction of older adults and/or the aging process?
- What are the advertisers trying to sell (ex what kind of product or idea)?
- What is your opinion on the benefit or detriment of what the advertisers are trying to sell? Do you think this product/idea is useful?
Each slide should include citation of the advertisement itself, as well as of the information used in critique.
On a separate slide of your presentation, include a picture depicting each of your examples. Use the notes section to compare and contrast each of your examples. Cite the textbook (or other scholarly sources) as support for your responses.
For example you could address these questions:
- Is there is one advertisement you think more accurately presents the aging population or offers a service that better serves them? Describe which one and why.
- Is there one example that presents more ageist views than another? Include a description of why.
- Is there one example that you feel would resonate the most with older adults? Include a description of why.
The last slide of your presentation should be a reference page, citing all of the references used throughout the whole presentation.
