“Old” vs. Verbal Botox®
The recent conversation began when a colleague, who does research for 55+ communities, remarked via email to a group of marketers to the mature, “We’ve tested ads that use the word old in a very accepting and progressive way, only to find our respondents hating the word and the idea in most contexts. (They hate) even the photos that went with it. These were 50 to 68 (years old), salt-of-the-earth belonger types – and didn’t want to go near the idea of old.”
As marketers, we’ve been looking for a suitable replacement for the word old for at least three decades. David Wolfe, author of the Ageless Marketing books, thinks that verbal Botox (a younger vocabulary for the aging process) wouldn’t be necessary if we’d just buck up and see aging and old as reality. Good for some, not so much for others; just like any other phase/phrase – the terrible twos, teenager, thirty-somethings.
He says, “Real is real. At my age (77) I know that I am senior, elderly, old…and none of these descriptors cause me a second thought. Euphemisms don’t do a thing for me. On occasion there have been contests to come up with substitute words for the traditional terms by which we know older folks. Generally, old folks wonder what the problem is.” Then he quoted another member of the e-dialogue, who encourages calling the audience that is our market simply, “people.”
In the U.K., older people are called geezers, and it’s a term of endearment there. In the U.S., there was a sports magazine that honored older athletes and had geezer in the title. It didn’t do well here.
As I read what these experienced people had to say about the perfect descriptive words to label someone older, it became clear that the younger the thinker, the more fight in them against using the words senior or old.
The younger members of the e-conversation were adamant about the need for verbal Botox. They didn’t mind a discount because they are of a certain age, but please, please don’t refer to them as “seniors” or “old,” if you value your health.
The lesson here may be that our older prospects can handle being referred to as seniors – they even know they’re older; their adult children, the Boomers, prefer not to be reminded or labeled now (or maybe ever).
Anita, I’m wondering if you have similar experience with generational terms like “Boomers,” “Busters,” “Silents,” etc. Do people have any adverse reactions to being grouped in a category like this?
By the way, I just read this blog by a senior/old/geezer person who seems to support your findings. Here’s a link: http://www.timegoesby.net/weblog/2010/02/acceptance-of-our-old-selves.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TimeGoesBy+%28TIME+GOES+BY%29
Interesting post. We did a statewide poll of Minnesota baby boomers a few years ago http://www.ecumen.org/aging-resources/16-the-ecumen-age-wave-study/, and I went into the poll thinking that boomers would like the phrase “elders” vs. “senior” b/c elder to me connotes wisdom. I was way wrong. They much preferred the word “senior.” I agree with David Wolfe, and I think it’s on us in the senior services profession to bring out the positives of aging and not hide from the negatives. An exciting time to be doing this work.