Ten Observations That Show Why We Must Exercise Our Financial Power.

By Karen and Erica

Before we retired, we did not pay too much attention to advertising promoting products for older women. We weren’t older so what did we care? 

Then we retired and were immediately, shockingly, seen as old. We wondered why on earth people thought we had, overnight, become feeble, lost our minds, and basically turned into potted plants, desiring nothing and requiring only periodic watering.

We did a bit if research among others of our kind, and began to look around for images of women like us who seemed to be living gratifying lives. One place we looked was media—how did advertisers describe us.

We saw pictures of:

• the woman who falls down and can’t get up—our favorite;

• the women happily modeling Depends;

• the woman sitting passively quiet while her husband speaks to a financial advisor;

• the women wearing shapeless house dresses as they water their own plants;

• the women, wearing miniskirts and blue hair, laughing hysterically in an apparent effort to regain their youth.

We did not see pictures of:

• Well dressed older women being waited on hand and foot by handsome maitre d’s;

• Glamorous older women flying by in sleek red cars; 

• Fit older women running hard and lifting weights;

• Older women as part of an intergenerational group enjoying one another’s company;

• Older women engaging in purposeful activity.

Plainly, that was one answer to why we were seen in a way that is terminally inauthentic. The images of older women being advanced by advertisers are completely at odds with reality. We don’t think those images were ever correct, but they surely are correct no longer. Many of us do need products to help us as we grow older, but that is only a tiny part of the picture—not the whole picture. We are healthier, wealthier and more active than many women in past generations, and we have a multi-decade runway. But people who have no reason to think hard about what being an older woman looks like may just accept that older women are all needy and greedy and leaky and failing fast. They may unthinkingly succumb to stereotypes lacking any credibility.

One solution? To remind marketers and brands that the women of this generation are smart, healthy, and fit—and have vast buying power. Women control 85% of consumer spending. Boomer women in particular control a great deal of wealth and have long runways. But they are an untapped market. If retailers want to increase their profits, these women should be shown as they are, and their interests understood.

She uses her money to fulfill a purpose. According to research by UBS, 90% of Gen X women (the oldest approaching 55) and 87% of Boomer women use their incomes as a tool to fulfill a personal purpose. For 81% of Gen Xers and 64% of Boomer women, this means investing in brands that align with their personal values. These can be very personal values: 80% of Boomer women will try a product that supports other women-owned business, and they’ll even give it a second chance if it missed the mark the first time. This may be why Procter & Gamble, the global maker of Pantene, Olay and Tide, is spending $10 billion with women-led businesses by 2025.

If advertisers would show us as we are, it would be good for us. We would all look more appealing, and people might see more quickly what we have to offer. It would also be good for brands, because they would sell more—to us, and also as decided by us. Seems like an obvious course of action, right? But no.

Instead, when it comes to brands engaging these female “super consumers,” many women feel invisible. Just 5% to 10% of marketing budgets are earmarked for 50-plus consumers, the Harvard Business Review has reported. As a result, 91% of Boomer women feel ignored and misunderstood by marketers, according to research by Girlpower Marketing.

We think change is coming, but very very slowly. In the meantime, we mean to take action. We will support brands with good messaging about us, and we will complain about those that do not. One way to do so—for women, though not especially older women—is an app we have discovered—the Gender Fair app. Just point your phone at a brand logo and you will get a number to tell you whether the company treats women fairly. That’s a start! Is an Age Fair app is on the horizon?

Next time you buy a product, think about what the brand is saying about us. And consider how best to exercise your considerable power as a consumer. If we act together, we would be shown as the powerhouses we are. That will make us feel better, and will eliminate barriers based on agist pictures of older women.