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Aging in the Media

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Aging in the Media
Aging in the Media How many ads do you believe you watch in a day? Jean Kilbourne in a video titled, Killing Us Softly, says, the average American will spend two years of his or her life watching television commercials ( Killing Us Softly, Jean Kilbourne). Today, television commercials like, Chevy Senior Citizens 2011 Super bowl Commercial and Carfax (Elderly woman leaving home commercial from 2000) perpetuate the stereotype of elders, hearing impaired, child-like, and senile. In 2011, a “Chevy Cruze” commercial, portrayed a group of elderly citizens at a nursing home misinterpreting a Cruze commercial. The elderly group was portrayed to be hard of hearing, misunderstanding the commercials mottos “Eco” and “42 miles per gallon.” In my opinion, the Chevy commercial was offensive to senior citizens. The Chevy commercial sends the message that elderly people are often hearing impaired. Next, there is the Carfax commercial. The Carfax commercial portrays an elderly woman having problems backing out of her garage with her car while trying to leave home. The elderly woman makes a couple of attempts of backing out, but runs into a tool shelf. When she successfully pulls out of the garage with her car, she scratches the entire driver’s side of the car while backing out. Finally, once the elderly woman is out of the garage, she damages the rear of the car when she hits the tree directly outside of her home. In my opinion, the Carfax commercial is offensive to seniors because gives the viewer the impression that elderly people are not capable of driving. In the two commercials mentioned above, the elderly are shown to resemble children, who may seem harmless, but also give the impression that the elderly only have the mental capacity of a child. The commercials also encourage the societal attitude toward the elderly, which shows that old people are a burden on society, an inconvenience at best, and a nuisance at worst.


Cited: http://www.9news.com/rss/story.aspx?storyid=198950 http://www.khou.com/news/local/Man-beats-elderly-wheelchair-bound-amputee-neighbor-with-club-176668301.html http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Search-continues-for-missing-85-year-old-Houston-3868723.php http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/1214/investment-guide-10-aging-retirement-stocks-health-care-winners.html http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2010/11/22/101122ta_talk_surowiecki Greedy Geezer http://foxnewsinsider.com/2012/08/18/elderly-woman-fights-off-home-intruder-with-bbq-fork/ http://youtu.be/2tHKDks7lDg Disney World Commerical http://youtu.be/L3yHa8brzNA Activist
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