Why Casting Older Female Models Is Good for Advertising

Abstract

Older people—particularly women—continue to be underrepresented in advertising. Some companies, however, have recently begun featuring more older women as decorative models in their advertisements. That practice goes against earlier research dating back to the late 1980s, which recommended that advertisers should avoid featuring older women in advertisements. The purpose of this article is to examine consumer responses to advertising featuring older female decorative models. In four experiments, the effects of advertisements of mostly female-gendered products, featuring older and younger female decorative models, are compared. The findings indicate positive effects of advertisements featuring older female decorative models for both younger and older female consumers, and that these effects can be explained by increased social connectedness with the decorative models.