25-35 y.o. is the sweet spot for casting women in advertising? That’s what has been thought for a very long time. It’s not. Research from the Stockholm School of Economics has overturned prejudices about older women in advertising.
“There are a lot of preconceived notions concerning the use of older people in advertising, which have turned out to be completely wrong,” stated researcher, Hanna Berg, associate professor at the Stockholm School of Economics.
In a recently published scientific article, researchers Hanna Berg and assistant professor at the Stockholm School of Economics, Karina Liljedal, have shown the opposite of what was long believed to be true. Their studies show that featuring older women in advertising has a positive impact on consumer responses to the ad and brand, as well as on purchase intentions.
The article is based on three years of research and first met with some skepticism.
“According to the earlier research on the topic, companies should be wary of using older female models in their advertisements. Just a couple of decades ago, researchers thought that there would be negative effects and discouraged companies from using older female models in advertising – now we know better.”
According to the researchers, the positive results are connected to consumers’ increasingly critical stance on stereotypes in advertising and their wish to see more groups represented in the media.
“It is notable that even younger women respond more positively to advertising featuring older models,” noted Karina Liljedal.
The two researchers were inspired by the network, WAKAI. WAKAI Community is a global network that inspires and lifts women 45+, founded in Sweden in 2018.
“WAKAI is a very good example of an ongoing change here in Sweden, where more age groups are represented in advertising.” “Our plan now is to continue communicating the research on older women together,” Hanna Berg commented.
Annika Jankell, co-founder of WAKAI, which builds its entire operation around women 45+, added, “Several important societal changes, such as digitisation and gender equality, have together shaped a generation that does not follow in their parents’ footsteps, but rather blurs age boundaries by following the digital behaviours of their young adult children. We strongly believe in this age group’s opportunities to influence everything from social issues to consumer patterns in the future.”
[Cover image by Ravi Patel: https://www.ravipatelphotography.com/]
