 |
Henri Bollinger Associates
|
|
|
Press Releases Contact:
Los
Angeles - In answer to criticism that ageism has not been adequately
addressed in television programming, Larry Deutchman, Sr. Vice President,
Marketing and Industry Relations for the Entertainment Industries Council,
Inc. (EIC), revealed before the California Senate Subcommittee on Aging
and Long-term Care and the Assembly Committee on Aging and Long-term Care
that, as early as 1994, EIC worked with a gerontology institute of UCLA to
develop accurate depictions of older adults for use in television
programming. “We
developed and disseminated depiction suggestions and a fact sheet on the
issue as part of the first edition of our resource encyclopedia,”
Deutchman said. “This was distributed to approximately 2,500 members of
the creative community.” To
reinforce these materials, EIC proceeded to schedule and conduct briefings
for industry professionals featuring a top gerontologist from UCLA.
“Unfortunately, it was at this point that we discovered our own
naivete,” Deutchman said. “Although
we managed to conduct two briefings, at ABC and MTM, we were unable to
schedule additional briefings. The barrier we ran into was ageism.” Despite
extensive research about the discretionary dollars of older adults and the
fact that older adults do indeed engage in brand switching, advertisers
seem most interested in reaching young people, or as the trade refers to
them, “key demographics.” Because
of this, network executives develop programming that will attract these
“key demographics,” resulting in the “right audience” tuning in
and higher advertiser dollars. And
apparently, “key demographics” don’t like to watch anything
containing people who have aged beyond being a “key demographic.”
A situation that leads to fewer programs reaching the air that
feature older characters and, therefore, older actors. “Unfortunately,
this obsession with reaching the younger audience has created a certain
amount of paranoia and fear,” according to Deutchman.
“In order to develop or create material that touches young
people, the myth says, you must be young yourself.
So, development executives, writers, producers, and directors tend
to be increasingly younger.” EIC
contends that this younger crop of programming executives decline to even
discuss the portrayal of older adults. They don’t want to appear to
anyone to be old themselves or trying to cater to the older audience.
It would be career suicide – or so the theory goes. The
issue of portraying older adults has always been met with resistance.
When meetings have been staged by industry organizations to discuss
this issue, those who show up are generally the very same group of
talented individuals who are now suffering from the stigma of ageism.
As it turns out, those so effected are also those least likely to
be in a position to do something about it. Deutchman
stated, “It is our belief that through sensitivity to depiction of
ageism, our industry can make a difference in how older adults are
perceived in society, leading to attitudinal change among the public.” EIC is
a non-profit organization founded in 1983 by the entertainment industry to
lead the industry in bringing its power and influence to bear on health
and social issues. EIC’s website is www.eiconline.org. ### |
