Olsen, Dennis and Strong, Jeremy ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4618-3327 (2026) Ageing and Advertising: The promotional portrayal of older adults and ageing in British advertising. Palgrave Macmillan, London. (In Press)

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Abstract

Ageing and Advertising addresses a critical and timely question: how is later life represented in contemporary advertising, how is it perceived by those it seeks to represent, and how might these representations be improved? Media images of ageing are not neutral. They shape how older age is understood, valued and experienced, and in advertising this influence intensifies as campaigns actively produce cultural meanings and social expectations. Responding to a UK media landscape shaped by equity, diversity and inclusion agendas, the book examines a persistent imbalance. Older adults remain underrepresented and, when visible, are often confined to narrow and repetitive roles. Ageing and Advertising confronts this problem directly, offering both a systematic critique of existing portrayals and a framework for rethinking them.

The book brings together perspectives from media and communication studies, psychology, literary theory and advertising practice. It develops an original typology of older character types in UK advertising, organised through six representational strategies and grounded in a comprehensive empirical study of television advertising. This framework provides a robust and transferable tool for analysing how ageing is constructed across promotional media. A distinctive feature lies in the integration of traditions of character and genre analysis with contemporary advertising research, tracing how deeply embedded narrative conventions shape portrayals of ageing. Stereotyping is repositioned as a dynamic cultural and psychological process embedded within storytelling practices rather than treated as a fixed representational problem.

The study is further strengthened by co-creative audience research with older adults that reveals how advertising is interpreted, negotiated and at times resisted. These insights inform a set of grounded principles for developing more resonant and responsible forms of communication. With an ageing population and increasing attention to inclusive representation, Ageing and Advertising speaks to an issue of clear social, cultural and economic significance. It offers the most comprehensive account to date of ageing in UK advertising while advancing a distinctive conceptual and methodological agenda for future research. The book will be of strong interest to scholars and students in advertising, media and communication, cultural studies and ageing studies, and will also be of value to practitioners seeking to engage older audiences with greater insight and impact.

Item Type:	Book
Date Deposited:	18 Aug 2026
Dates:	Date Publication status 8 August 2026 Accepted
School, department or research centre:	London School of Film, Media and Design
URI:	https://repository.uwl.ac.uk/id/eprint/15277
Sustainable Development Goals:	Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being	Sustainable Development Goals:	Goal 5: Gender Equality	Sustainable Development Goals:	Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities	Sustainable Development Goals:	Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production	Sustainable Development Goals:	Goal 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

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