Network television characters from drama, comedy, game shows, news programs, and commercials were rated for age, sex, physical activity, health problems, authority, and romantic involvement. Important differences in these ratings were found between the various age and sex categories. Impact of the television medium on attitudes toward aging and self-perception of the elderly is discussed.
Television and Aging Is What You See What You Get?
I'm an old man and all alone, and the TV brings people and music and talk into my life. Maybe
without TV I would be ready to die; but this TV gives me life. It gives me what to look forward to —that tomorrow, if I live, I'll watch this and that program (Steiner, 1963). Television . . . the great American pastime. Figures from A.C. Nielsen claim that, by the time the average American child finishes high school, he has spent 11,000 hours in the classroom and 15,000 hours before the television set. Middle-aged Americans spend more time watching television than at any other leisure activity (Pfeiffer & Davis, 1971). By virtue of this high level of exposure, television could be expected to play a prominent role in shaping American opinion. In fact, in a study by Roper (1973), television was shown to be the most believable of all mass media. Since television has such a pervasive impact on American life, it is appropriate to ask specifically how it influences attitudes toward aging. Past research, although not copius, documents a primarily negative portrayal of the elderly on television. One pessimistic view (Marshall & Wallenstein, 1973) states that, Programming devoted to the elderly focuses on incapacitated senile nursing home residents; it fosters a stereotype of older people as incompetent, pathetic and debilitated —and all this despite the fact that 85% of elderly people are quite capable of looking after themselves. •1420 Eli Drive, Reno, NV 89511. 'Associate Professor of Family Medicine, Div. of Health Sciences, Univ. of Nevada.
464
Monitoring studies concerned with aging have focused their attention in particular on prime-time drama. One important study (Arnoff, 1974) showed that aging in prime-time dramatic programs is associated with "increasing evil, failure and unhappiness. Only 40% of older males and 10% of female characters are seen as successful, happy and good." In another study limited to prime-time dramatic programs (Northcott, 1975) it was found that the elderly appear only infrequently and are usually characterized as incompetent and suffering a disproportionate amount of problems. The present study seeks to extend this inquiry beyond prime-time into several different time segments and categories (commercials, comedy, news, game, and childrens' programs) and to draw some conclusions on the potential impact of these representations of aged people. Monitoring the Elderly on TV Programs
Data on frequency and type of characterization of the elderly were gathered from a 4hour random sampling of each of four time segments (8 a.m.-12 p.m.; 12 p.m.-4 p.m.; 4 p.m.-8 p.m.; 8 p.m.-12 a.m.). Programs were selected on a random basis over a 6-week period from among all 7 days of the week and from the three national networks. All sampling was done in the months of October and November 1976. All characters, with the exception of cartoons and nonspeaking roles, were identified as to sex and age group. Seven age groups were considered: under 20; 20-30; 30-40; 40-50; 50-60; 60-70; and over 70. Characters were rated according to levels of The Gerontologist
Downloaded from http://gerontologist.oxfordjournals.org/ at City University, London on March 20, 2016
AdellaJ. Harris, BA,1 and Jonathan F. Feinberg, MD, MPH 2
romantic involvement, physical activity, health problems, authority, and esteem by others.3 Age Breakdown on TV Programs
Breakdown Category
of
Characters
by
Program
Men or women over 60 accounted for about 7% of game show characters, about 6% of drama and soap opera characters, and 9.5% of comedy show characters. News and talk programs drew about 10% of their characters from the over-60 categories. About 10% of the characters on children's programs were over 60. This figure is affected by the number of older people on the revival of the "Howdy Doody" program where the original actors are now appearing. A separate monitoring of children's programs is underway to confirm this figure and to explore aging as it is represented in this important area of television programming. Positive Romantic Involvement
Positive romantic involvement was noted in 8% of the 312 characters. The age distribution of these involvements was particularly noteworthy; 84% of all positive love 'Tabular material upon which this study is based is available from the author upon request.
Vol. 17, No. 5,1977
Physical Activity
Of the total sample of 312, 49 characters (15.7%) were observed in moderate to high physical activity. It is interesting to note that while physical activity declined sharply in all categories beyond the age of 20, the greatest declines were not in the later years but rather in the decades from 20-40. For example, only 8% of characters between 30 and 40 and 7% of those between 40 and 50 years of age were shown in physical activities. Contrasted to this, of the characters in the 50-60 and 60-70 groups, 14% and 12.5%, repectively, were portrayed in moderate to high physical pursuits. Both of the characters over 70 engaged in physical activity, but only one portrayal was positive —that of a male mill owner helping in a rescue mission. The other portrayal was an elderly female in a comedy whose unexpected physical attack on a younger person was used as a source of ridicule. Authority and Esteem by Others
Moderate to high degrees of authority and/or esteem by others were observed in 125 (40%) of all 312 characters studied. It is particularly noteworthy that as age increases over 40, authority and esteem increase for the male while they decrease for the female. In the 40-50 age group, 83% of the authority holders are male, and this proportion jumps to 92% in the 50-60 age group. Women gain a little ground in the 60-70 age group where they represent approximately one-third of the authority holders. This distribution tends to corroborate Aronoff's (1974) observation that "while most males in prime-time drama fail because they are evil, females fail just as they age." Also interesting is the fact that most of the older males showing authority and esteem were counted in the news and talk program category, where they appear as senators,
465
Downloaded from http://gerontologist.oxfordjournals.org/ at City University, London on March 20, 2016
Age intervals were assigned to individual characters by admittedly subjective criteria but which included commonly acknowledged physical attributes such as wrinkles, gray hair, general body habitus, vocal timbre, and overall impression. Every effort was made to exclude the dependent variables being rated in the study as indicators of age group. A total of 312 characters were observed and rated. Of these, 102 appeared to be under 30, 184 were between 30 and 60, 24 appeared to be in the 60-70 age group, and only 2 were assigned to the over-70 category. It is clear that the middle decades represent the predominant age group on television. Since a specific numerical age is very rarely divulged for television characters, it is impossible to make a precise comparison between the television population and that of the real world. However, we can note that 8.3% of the total characters were assigned to age categories over 60, while government figures (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1973) assess the population over 64 at 10.1%.
relationships were between characters under the age of 30! Only one positive romantic involvement was counted in individuals in the 50-60 category. No romantic involvements whatsoever were described in characters over 60. Older characters were occasionally shown in marriage relationships, but never was the loving or sexual element of that relationship at issue. Here television clearly perpetuates the myth of the sexless, boring oldster whose inner life is unworthy of interest.
Health Problems on TV Shows
Of the total sample, nearly 9% of all characters were shown to have some type of health problem, either minor or major. In the decades below 50 only about 6% of the characters in each group displayed health problems. This is in marked contrast to the 5060 category with 14% of its 64 characters showing health problems and the 60-70 category with 25% of its 24 characters in poor health. Although it is true that in real life the incidence of health problems is higher among older age groups, it is nonetheless noteworthy that television has chosen to dramatize subject matter where old people fail (health) rather than subject matter where they are successful (business and politics). Commercials
Eighty commercials were monitored, and a total of 198 individuals were evaluated as to sex, age, physical activity, health problems, and authority. Age and Sex Distribution in Commercials
While people over 60 represented 10.6% of the total characters analyzed on commercials, the distribution among the sexes was less in line with reality. For the 20-30 age group, there are 9 males compared to 50 females. In the 50-60 group, on the other hand, the number of males has doubled while the number of females has declined by 78%. It is quite clear that advertisers favor younger women to sell their products, although they consider age to be an asset in the male.
Physical Activity in Commercials
A total of 67 people of all ages and sexes were recorded as engaging in moderate to high physical activity. Physical activity tended to decline with age; 39% of all characters under 30 were shown in physical activities, while only 23% of the characters past 50 were portrayed in physical pursuits. The lowest degree of physical activity was noted in the age group 50-60 (17.2%). There were no portrayals of incapacitated or debilitated old people. Health Problems in Commercials.
There is a higher percentage of people with health problems in commercials (13.1% of the total) than in the programs themselves (8.9%). And old people in commercials have more physical ailments (35% for age group 60-70) than their counterparts in the programs (25% for the same age group). In contrast, only 3.2% of all characters in commercials in the 30-40 age group displayed health problems. On the commercials as in the programs, health problems clearly increase with age. Authority in Commericlas
Individuals were classified into two categories: Giving Advice and Seeking Advice. The 20-30 age group showed the highest percentage of advice givers for both males and females (33.3%). Again, it was found that as age increases, the female declines in authority to a much greater extent than the male. For example, men represent 68.7% of all advice givers within the 50-60 age group and 69% of the 40-50 age group. This is in sharp contrast to their meager representation in the 20-30 age group where they account for only 12.5% of advice givers. Celebrities account for a large portion of the advice givers belonging to the older age groups, particularly among the men. After the age of 50, 37.5% of all advise givers are celebrities. Although there were proportionately many more advice givers under 40, only one celebrity was counted in that group. Twice as many celebrities were male as were female. This suggests, once again, that in the real world, older men do, in fact, occupy positions of authority and status. Television advertisers make use of these older public figures to lend authority to their sales pitches but are not nearly so willing to entrust
466
The Gerontologist
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congressmen, industrialists, and the like. For example, of the 41 male authority holders between 50 and 70, 26 (63.4%) were counted on news and talk shows. The remaining 15 were evenly dispersed among the other program categories. This is a vivid example of the disparity that exists between the real world as reported on the news and life as it is recreated on entertainment programs. Television drama does not purport to be a one-to-one representation of reality, but is of necessity a selected view of life, chosen for its supposed dramatic appeal. The areas of business and politics are rarely selected as the stage for dramatic representations. Therefore, older people who are in true life eminently successful in these fields are not portrayed in such roles in the simulated world of television entertainment.
a similar responsibility to an older character in their commercials. Product Associations Commercials were separated into seven product categories and age correlations were made as summarized below:
Conclusion The problem of the older person on television seems to be one of quality rather than of quantity. The figures in the present study indicate that old people are represented in numbers reasonably close to their present population make-up. It is the quality of this representation that remains troublesome. In the world of commercials, where youth is celebrated, the portrait of the older person was essentially unflattering: unhealthy, unstylish, uninteresting. In a study on stereotypes of the aged (Hess, 1974), it was stated that advertisers shy away from old people because "they are 'poor copy'; they remind us of role loss, deprivations and ultimate demise, none of which is a helpful product association." Comfort (1975) blames this attitude on the mercenary nature of advertising: "The TV ratings stop at 49; for people over that age, say the advertisers, have 'brand loyalty' formed, are too experienced to be ripped off and have no money anyway." In the programs themselves where marketing is less of an issue, we might expect to find a more realistic representation of old people. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Vol.17, No. 5,1977
Impact of TV on Young and Old If we accept the pivotal role of television in shaping American attitudes, it is no wonder then that so many Americans hold negative views of the aged —including, sadly, the aged themselves. According to Peters (1971), the selfperceptions of old people are formed as responses to cultural or social definitions of age. These definitions are learned at a very early age. Hickey and Kalish (1968) determined that by the age of 8, children have already begun to develop negative attitudes toward old people. The adolescents interviewed in their study described old age as risky, unpleasant, and without significant positive values. Other researchers (Aaronson, 1966; Britton & Britton, 1970) have described negative stereotypes similar to those expressed by Hickey's young subjects. Comfort (1975) sums it up by stating: "The role of oldness is not biologically fixed; it is sometimes prescribed by society and our society prescribes it foully." And so it is that the human elderly, like all social beings, are embodiments of the role expectations assigned to them by their culture. In this case, the prophesy of old age as a time of uselessness and incompetence is selffulling. Television does much to perpetuate this cycle. It is indeed lamentable that the television medium has not seen fit to present older people in greater emotional depth, representing the value of wisdom and experience, and emphasizing the wide variety of skills that old people contribute to society. As indicated by Hess (1974), it is a loss for T.V. as well: Ironically, the media have thus "big story" —the emergence of old people, and the ways in demonstrated, once again, capacity of human beings to
467
far missed a truly a "new breed" of which they have the remarkable adapt, under ex-
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Clothing: Of eight people counted in clothing advertisements, all were women under 40. Appliances: Of 24 people in appliance ads, only one was over 60. Health Aids: Of 37 people in health aids advertisements, 8 or 21.6% were over 60. Personal Care and Cosmetics: Approximately 83% of all people in personal care and cosmetics ads are under 30. Only one person, a male, was over 40. Car Advertisements: Of 17 people in car advertisements, 23.5% were from the 50-60 age group. None was over 60. Food: Of 50 people in food advertisements, only 3 or 6% were over 60. Cleaning Products: No people over 60 were counted in cleaning product advertisements. 76.4% were under 40.
In general, old people were remarkably onedimensional. We rarely found a welldeveloped characterization in which a wide range of emotions was expressed. Love relationships, the stuff of which life is made, were conspicuously absent. The television portrayal of older women was particularly harsh. In contrast to men, women experienced tragic declines in esteem as age increased. For women, youth seemed to the the sine qua non of success.
traordinarily trying circumstances to generate new norms, to devise supportive social structures and to survive with dignity and grace.
Calendar of Events Oct. 10-11. 1st Ann Arbor Symposium on Biology of Special Senses in Aging. At U. Michigan. Dorothy H. Coons, Inst. of Cerontol., U. Michigan, 520 E. Liberty, Ann Arbor 48109. October 13-16.6th Annual General and Scientific Meeting of Canadian Assn. on Gerontology. At Loews "La Cite" Hotel, Montreal. Blossom T. Wigdor, PhD, Psychology Services, Queen Mary Veterans Hospital, Montreal H3W 1W5. Oct. 21-23. Gerokinesiatrics International, Lawrence Frankel Foundation, WV Dept. of Welfare, & WV Com. on Aging. In Charleston, WV. The Foundation, Virginia at Brooks St., Charleston 25301. Nov. 2. Drug Administration to the Aged Person, St. Louis U. Sch. Nursing & Allied Health Professions. At St. Louis U. Sch. Med. The Sch. Nursing, 1320 S. Grand Blvd., St. Louis 63104. Nov. 5. Euthanasia: Implications for Health Care Professionals. St. Louis U. Sch. Med. At St. Louis U. Sch. Med. J. L. Zeffren, MD, Dept. Internal Med., St. Louis U. Sch. Med., 1320 S. Grand Blvd., St. Louis 63104. Nov. 9. 2nd Symposium on Geriatric Medicine. Sec. Ceriat. Med., NY Acad. of Med. S. B. Jacobson, MD, 55 E. 86 St., New York 10028. Nov. 18-22. 30th Annual Scientific Meeting of Gerontological Society. At San Francisco Hilton Hotel. The Society, #1 Dupont Circle, Washington 20036.
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Nov. 28-Dec. 1. American Heart Assn. 50th Scientific Sessions (AHA Council on Cardiovascular Nursing annual scientific sessions Nov. 29-30). In Miami Beach. AHA, Scientific Programs, 7320 Greenville Ave., Dallas 75231. Dec. 8-10. 6th National Conference on Transportation for Elderly and Handicapped. In Orlando or St. Petersburg Beach. Dr. W. G. Bell, Dept. of Urban & Regional Planning, Florida State Univ., Tallahassee 32306. Jan. 22-24. 2nd National Symposium on Education for Long-Term Care Administration, Assn. of Univ. Programs in Health Administration. In New Orleans. AUPHA, 1755 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington 20036. Feb. 16-18. 3rd International Conference on Cerebrovascular Disease and Cerebral Circulation. At Fairmont Hotel, New Orleans, American Heart Assn., 7320 Creenville Ave., Dallas 75231. Mar.-April. 4th Annual Gerontology Institute. At Sangamon State U. G. Lesnoff-Garavaglia, PhD, Gerontol. Prog., Sangamon State U., Springfield, IL 62708. Mar. 17-18. Medical Care of the Elderly Mar. 31-Apr. 1. Psycho-Social Problems in Later Life Apr. 14-15. Health Strategies for Prevention and Intervention: Life-Span Perspectives Aug. 20-25. 11th International Congress of Gerontology. In Tokyo. Gerontological Society, #1 Dupont Circle, Washington 20036.
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References Aaronson, B.S. Personality stereotypes of aging. Journal of Gerontology, 1966,27, 458-462. Aronoff, C. Old age in prime time. Journal of Communication, 1974, 24, 86-87. Britton, J.O., & Britton, J.H. Young people's perceptions of age and aging. Gerontologist, 1970, 10 (3:2), 39. (abstract) Comfort, A. Prescribing the role of oldness often defies the realities of oldness. Center Magazine, 1975, 2, 11-12. Hess, B.B. Stereotypes of the aged. Journal of Communication, 1974,24, 76-85.
Hickey, T., Hickey, L.A., & Kalish, R. Children's perceptions of the elderly. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 1968,772, 227-235. Marshall, C.L., & Wallenstein, E. Beyond Marcus Welby, cable TV for the health of the elderly. Geriatrics, 1973,28, 182-186. Northcott, H.C. Too young, too old —age in the world of television. Gerontologist, 1975, 15, 184-186. Peters, C.R. Self-conceptions of the aged, age identification and aging. Gerontologist, 1971, 77 (4:2) 69-73. Pfeiffer, E., & Davis, C.C. The use of leisure time in middle life. Cerontologist, 1971, 77 (3:1), 187-195. Roper, B.W. 1973 Survey of public attitudes toward media. Television Information Office, National Assn. of Broadcasters, New York. Steiner, A. The people look at television. A study of audience attitudes. Knopf, New York, 1963. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Statistical abstract of the United States: 1973, (94th ed.), Washington, 1973.
Television and Aging Is What You See What You Get?
I'm an old man and all alone, and the TV brings people and music and talk into my life. Maybe
without TV I would be ready to die; but this TV gives me life. It gives me what to look forward to —that tomorrow, if I live, I'll watch this and that program (Steiner, 1963). Television . . . the great American pastime. Figures from A.C. Nielsen claim that, by the time the average American child finishes high school, he has spent 11,000 hours in the classroom and 15,000 hours before the television set. Middle-aged Americans spend more time watching television than at any other leisure activity (Pfeiffer & Davis, 1971). By virtue of this high level of exposure, television could be expected to play a prominent role in shaping American opinion. In fact, in a study by Roper (1973), television was shown to be the most believable of all mass media. Since television has such a pervasive impact on American life, it is appropriate to ask specifically how it influences attitudes toward aging. Past research, although not copius, documents a primarily negative portrayal of the elderly on television. One pessimistic view (Marshall & Wallenstein, 1973) states that, Programming devoted to the elderly focuses on incapacitated senile nursing home residents; it fosters a stereotype of older people as incompetent, pathetic and debilitated —and all this despite the fact that 85% of elderly people are quite capable of looking after themselves. •1420 Eli Drive, Reno, NV 89511. 'Associate Professor of Family Medicine, Div. of Health Sciences, Univ. of Nevada.
464
Monitoring studies concerned with aging have focused their attention in particular on prime-time drama. One important study (Arnoff, 1974) showed that aging in prime-time dramatic programs is associated with "increasing evil, failure and unhappiness. Only 40% of older males and 10% of female characters are seen as successful, happy and good." In another study limited to prime-time dramatic programs (Northcott, 1975) it was found that the elderly appear only infrequently and are usually characterized as incompetent and suffering a disproportionate amount of problems. The present study seeks to extend this inquiry beyond prime-time into several different time segments and categories (commercials, comedy, news, game, and childrens' programs) and to draw some conclusions on the potential impact of these representations of aged people. Monitoring the Elderly on TV Programs
Data on frequency and type of characterization of the elderly were gathered from a 4hour random sampling of each of four time segments (8 a.m.-12 p.m.; 12 p.m.-4 p.m.; 4 p.m.-8 p.m.; 8 p.m.-12 a.m.). Programs were selected on a random basis over a 6-week period from among all 7 days of the week and from the three national networks. All sampling was done in the months of October and November 1976. All characters, with the exception of cartoons and nonspeaking roles, were identified as to sex and age group. Seven age groups were considered: under 20; 20-30; 30-40; 40-50; 50-60; 60-70; and over 70. Characters were rated according to levels of The Gerontologist
Downloaded from http://gerontologist.oxfordjournals.org/ at City University, London on March 20, 2016
AdellaJ. Harris, BA,1 and Jonathan F. Feinberg, MD, MPH 2
romantic involvement, physical activity, health problems, authority, and esteem by others.3 Age Breakdown on TV Programs
Breakdown Category
of
Characters
by
Program
Men or women over 60 accounted for about 7% of game show characters, about 6% of drama and soap opera characters, and 9.5% of comedy show characters. News and talk programs drew about 10% of their characters from the over-60 categories. About 10% of the characters on children's programs were over 60. This figure is affected by the number of older people on the revival of the "Howdy Doody" program where the original actors are now appearing. A separate monitoring of children's programs is underway to confirm this figure and to explore aging as it is represented in this important area of television programming. Positive Romantic Involvement
Positive romantic involvement was noted in 8% of the 312 characters. The age distribution of these involvements was particularly noteworthy; 84% of all positive love 'Tabular material upon which this study is based is available from the author upon request.
Vol. 17, No. 5,1977
Physical Activity
Of the total sample of 312, 49 characters (15.7%) were observed in moderate to high physical activity. It is interesting to note that while physical activity declined sharply in all categories beyond the age of 20, the greatest declines were not in the later years but rather in the decades from 20-40. For example, only 8% of characters between 30 and 40 and 7% of those between 40 and 50 years of age were shown in physical activities. Contrasted to this, of the characters in the 50-60 and 60-70 groups, 14% and 12.5%, repectively, were portrayed in moderate to high physical pursuits. Both of the characters over 70 engaged in physical activity, but only one portrayal was positive —that of a male mill owner helping in a rescue mission. The other portrayal was an elderly female in a comedy whose unexpected physical attack on a younger person was used as a source of ridicule. Authority and Esteem by Others
Moderate to high degrees of authority and/or esteem by others were observed in 125 (40%) of all 312 characters studied. It is particularly noteworthy that as age increases over 40, authority and esteem increase for the male while they decrease for the female. In the 40-50 age group, 83% of the authority holders are male, and this proportion jumps to 92% in the 50-60 age group. Women gain a little ground in the 60-70 age group where they represent approximately one-third of the authority holders. This distribution tends to corroborate Aronoff's (1974) observation that "while most males in prime-time drama fail because they are evil, females fail just as they age." Also interesting is the fact that most of the older males showing authority and esteem were counted in the news and talk program category, where they appear as senators,
465
Downloaded from http://gerontologist.oxfordjournals.org/ at City University, London on March 20, 2016
Age intervals were assigned to individual characters by admittedly subjective criteria but which included commonly acknowledged physical attributes such as wrinkles, gray hair, general body habitus, vocal timbre, and overall impression. Every effort was made to exclude the dependent variables being rated in the study as indicators of age group. A total of 312 characters were observed and rated. Of these, 102 appeared to be under 30, 184 were between 30 and 60, 24 appeared to be in the 60-70 age group, and only 2 were assigned to the over-70 category. It is clear that the middle decades represent the predominant age group on television. Since a specific numerical age is very rarely divulged for television characters, it is impossible to make a precise comparison between the television population and that of the real world. However, we can note that 8.3% of the total characters were assigned to age categories over 60, while government figures (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1973) assess the population over 64 at 10.1%.
relationships were between characters under the age of 30! Only one positive romantic involvement was counted in individuals in the 50-60 category. No romantic involvements whatsoever were described in characters over 60. Older characters were occasionally shown in marriage relationships, but never was the loving or sexual element of that relationship at issue. Here television clearly perpetuates the myth of the sexless, boring oldster whose inner life is unworthy of interest.
Health Problems on TV Shows
Of the total sample, nearly 9% of all characters were shown to have some type of health problem, either minor or major. In the decades below 50 only about 6% of the characters in each group displayed health problems. This is in marked contrast to the 5060 category with 14% of its 64 characters showing health problems and the 60-70 category with 25% of its 24 characters in poor health. Although it is true that in real life the incidence of health problems is higher among older age groups, it is nonetheless noteworthy that television has chosen to dramatize subject matter where old people fail (health) rather than subject matter where they are successful (business and politics). Commercials
Eighty commercials were monitored, and a total of 198 individuals were evaluated as to sex, age, physical activity, health problems, and authority. Age and Sex Distribution in Commercials
While people over 60 represented 10.6% of the total characters analyzed on commercials, the distribution among the sexes was less in line with reality. For the 20-30 age group, there are 9 males compared to 50 females. In the 50-60 group, on the other hand, the number of males has doubled while the number of females has declined by 78%. It is quite clear that advertisers favor younger women to sell their products, although they consider age to be an asset in the male.
Physical Activity in Commercials
A total of 67 people of all ages and sexes were recorded as engaging in moderate to high physical activity. Physical activity tended to decline with age; 39% of all characters under 30 were shown in physical activities, while only 23% of the characters past 50 were portrayed in physical pursuits. The lowest degree of physical activity was noted in the age group 50-60 (17.2%). There were no portrayals of incapacitated or debilitated old people. Health Problems in Commercials.
There is a higher percentage of people with health problems in commercials (13.1% of the total) than in the programs themselves (8.9%). And old people in commercials have more physical ailments (35% for age group 60-70) than their counterparts in the programs (25% for the same age group). In contrast, only 3.2% of all characters in commercials in the 30-40 age group displayed health problems. On the commercials as in the programs, health problems clearly increase with age. Authority in Commericlas
Individuals were classified into two categories: Giving Advice and Seeking Advice. The 20-30 age group showed the highest percentage of advice givers for both males and females (33.3%). Again, it was found that as age increases, the female declines in authority to a much greater extent than the male. For example, men represent 68.7% of all advice givers within the 50-60 age group and 69% of the 40-50 age group. This is in sharp contrast to their meager representation in the 20-30 age group where they account for only 12.5% of advice givers. Celebrities account for a large portion of the advice givers belonging to the older age groups, particularly among the men. After the age of 50, 37.5% of all advise givers are celebrities. Although there were proportionately many more advice givers under 40, only one celebrity was counted in that group. Twice as many celebrities were male as were female. This suggests, once again, that in the real world, older men do, in fact, occupy positions of authority and status. Television advertisers make use of these older public figures to lend authority to their sales pitches but are not nearly so willing to entrust
466
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congressmen, industrialists, and the like. For example, of the 41 male authority holders between 50 and 70, 26 (63.4%) were counted on news and talk shows. The remaining 15 were evenly dispersed among the other program categories. This is a vivid example of the disparity that exists between the real world as reported on the news and life as it is recreated on entertainment programs. Television drama does not purport to be a one-to-one representation of reality, but is of necessity a selected view of life, chosen for its supposed dramatic appeal. The areas of business and politics are rarely selected as the stage for dramatic representations. Therefore, older people who are in true life eminently successful in these fields are not portrayed in such roles in the simulated world of television entertainment.
a similar responsibility to an older character in their commercials. Product Associations Commercials were separated into seven product categories and age correlations were made as summarized below:
Conclusion The problem of the older person on television seems to be one of quality rather than of quantity. The figures in the present study indicate that old people are represented in numbers reasonably close to their present population make-up. It is the quality of this representation that remains troublesome. In the world of commercials, where youth is celebrated, the portrait of the older person was essentially unflattering: unhealthy, unstylish, uninteresting. In a study on stereotypes of the aged (Hess, 1974), it was stated that advertisers shy away from old people because "they are 'poor copy'; they remind us of role loss, deprivations and ultimate demise, none of which is a helpful product association." Comfort (1975) blames this attitude on the mercenary nature of advertising: "The TV ratings stop at 49; for people over that age, say the advertisers, have 'brand loyalty' formed, are too experienced to be ripped off and have no money anyway." In the programs themselves where marketing is less of an issue, we might expect to find a more realistic representation of old people. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Vol.17, No. 5,1977
Impact of TV on Young and Old If we accept the pivotal role of television in shaping American attitudes, it is no wonder then that so many Americans hold negative views of the aged —including, sadly, the aged themselves. According to Peters (1971), the selfperceptions of old people are formed as responses to cultural or social definitions of age. These definitions are learned at a very early age. Hickey and Kalish (1968) determined that by the age of 8, children have already begun to develop negative attitudes toward old people. The adolescents interviewed in their study described old age as risky, unpleasant, and without significant positive values. Other researchers (Aaronson, 1966; Britton & Britton, 1970) have described negative stereotypes similar to those expressed by Hickey's young subjects. Comfort (1975) sums it up by stating: "The role of oldness is not biologically fixed; it is sometimes prescribed by society and our society prescribes it foully." And so it is that the human elderly, like all social beings, are embodiments of the role expectations assigned to them by their culture. In this case, the prophesy of old age as a time of uselessness and incompetence is selffulling. Television does much to perpetuate this cycle. It is indeed lamentable that the television medium has not seen fit to present older people in greater emotional depth, representing the value of wisdom and experience, and emphasizing the wide variety of skills that old people contribute to society. As indicated by Hess (1974), it is a loss for T.V. as well: Ironically, the media have thus "big story" —the emergence of old people, and the ways in demonstrated, once again, capacity of human beings to
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far missed a truly a "new breed" of which they have the remarkable adapt, under ex-
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Clothing: Of eight people counted in clothing advertisements, all were women under 40. Appliances: Of 24 people in appliance ads, only one was over 60. Health Aids: Of 37 people in health aids advertisements, 8 or 21.6% were over 60. Personal Care and Cosmetics: Approximately 83% of all people in personal care and cosmetics ads are under 30. Only one person, a male, was over 40. Car Advertisements: Of 17 people in car advertisements, 23.5% were from the 50-60 age group. None was over 60. Food: Of 50 people in food advertisements, only 3 or 6% were over 60. Cleaning Products: No people over 60 were counted in cleaning product advertisements. 76.4% were under 40.
In general, old people were remarkably onedimensional. We rarely found a welldeveloped characterization in which a wide range of emotions was expressed. Love relationships, the stuff of which life is made, were conspicuously absent. The television portrayal of older women was particularly harsh. In contrast to men, women experienced tragic declines in esteem as age increased. For women, youth seemed to the the sine qua non of success.
traordinarily trying circumstances to generate new norms, to devise supportive social structures and to survive with dignity and grace.
Calendar of Events Oct. 10-11. 1st Ann Arbor Symposium on Biology of Special Senses in Aging. At U. Michigan. Dorothy H. Coons, Inst. of Cerontol., U. Michigan, 520 E. Liberty, Ann Arbor 48109. October 13-16.6th Annual General and Scientific Meeting of Canadian Assn. on Gerontology. At Loews "La Cite" Hotel, Montreal. Blossom T. Wigdor, PhD, Psychology Services, Queen Mary Veterans Hospital, Montreal H3W 1W5. Oct. 21-23. Gerokinesiatrics International, Lawrence Frankel Foundation, WV Dept. of Welfare, & WV Com. on Aging. In Charleston, WV. The Foundation, Virginia at Brooks St., Charleston 25301. Nov. 2. Drug Administration to the Aged Person, St. Louis U. Sch. Nursing & Allied Health Professions. At St. Louis U. Sch. Med. The Sch. Nursing, 1320 S. Grand Blvd., St. Louis 63104. Nov. 5. Euthanasia: Implications for Health Care Professionals. St. Louis U. Sch. Med. At St. Louis U. Sch. Med. J. L. Zeffren, MD, Dept. Internal Med., St. Louis U. Sch. Med., 1320 S. Grand Blvd., St. Louis 63104. Nov. 9. 2nd Symposium on Geriatric Medicine. Sec. Ceriat. Med., NY Acad. of Med. S. B. Jacobson, MD, 55 E. 86 St., New York 10028. Nov. 18-22. 30th Annual Scientific Meeting of Gerontological Society. At San Francisco Hilton Hotel. The Society, #1 Dupont Circle, Washington 20036.
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Nov. 28-Dec. 1. American Heart Assn. 50th Scientific Sessions (AHA Council on Cardiovascular Nursing annual scientific sessions Nov. 29-30). In Miami Beach. AHA, Scientific Programs, 7320 Greenville Ave., Dallas 75231. Dec. 8-10. 6th National Conference on Transportation for Elderly and Handicapped. In Orlando or St. Petersburg Beach. Dr. W. G. Bell, Dept. of Urban & Regional Planning, Florida State Univ., Tallahassee 32306. Jan. 22-24. 2nd National Symposium on Education for Long-Term Care Administration, Assn. of Univ. Programs in Health Administration. In New Orleans. AUPHA, 1755 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington 20036. Feb. 16-18. 3rd International Conference on Cerebrovascular Disease and Cerebral Circulation. At Fairmont Hotel, New Orleans, American Heart Assn., 7320 Creenville Ave., Dallas 75231. Mar.-April. 4th Annual Gerontology Institute. At Sangamon State U. G. Lesnoff-Garavaglia, PhD, Gerontol. Prog., Sangamon State U., Springfield, IL 62708. Mar. 17-18. Medical Care of the Elderly Mar. 31-Apr. 1. Psycho-Social Problems in Later Life Apr. 14-15. Health Strategies for Prevention and Intervention: Life-Span Perspectives Aug. 20-25. 11th International Congress of Gerontology. In Tokyo. Gerontological Society, #1 Dupont Circle, Washington 20036.
The Gerontologist
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References Aaronson, B.S. Personality stereotypes of aging. Journal of Gerontology, 1966,27, 458-462. Aronoff, C. Old age in prime time. Journal of Communication, 1974, 24, 86-87. Britton, J.O., & Britton, J.H. Young people's perceptions of age and aging. Gerontologist, 1970, 10 (3:2), 39. (abstract) Comfort, A. Prescribing the role of oldness often defies the realities of oldness. Center Magazine, 1975, 2, 11-12. Hess, B.B. Stereotypes of the aged. Journal of Communication, 1974,24, 76-85.
Hickey, T., Hickey, L.A., & Kalish, R. Children's perceptions of the elderly. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 1968,772, 227-235. Marshall, C.L., & Wallenstein, E. Beyond Marcus Welby, cable TV for the health of the elderly. Geriatrics, 1973,28, 182-186. Northcott, H.C. Too young, too old —age in the world of television. Gerontologist, 1975, 15, 184-186. Peters, C.R. Self-conceptions of the aged, age identification and aging. Gerontologist, 1971, 77 (4:2) 69-73. Pfeiffer, E., & Davis, C.C. The use of leisure time in middle life. Cerontologist, 1971, 77 (3:1), 187-195. Roper, B.W. 1973 Survey of public attitudes toward media. Television Information Office, National Assn. of Broadcasters, New York. Steiner, A. The people look at television. A study of audience attitudes. Knopf, New York, 1963. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Statistical abstract of the United States: 1973, (94th ed.), Washington, 1973.
