With HDTV, I think another real difference is this:
Old man: “I want an HDTV. Do you take cash?”
Young man: “I want an HDTV. What kind of interest rate will you gouge me for, over the next 10 years?”
Of course, old people really think “Sure! Give me that HDTV! I’ll be dead before you can repossess it and then you can just get in line!”
Sure, but hip- and knee-replacement companies can only buy so much airtime.
No, actually all of those housekeeping products are for men too.
And cars are almost always marketed for men. I could give designers so many ideas for the exteriors alone.
Movie theaters are showing the wrong matinees for 3/4 of the year too. The kids are in school. There are lots of retired teachers, widows, and former career women who are tired of watching animated films and shoot-em-ups at the local Cinema Twenty. We want more movies with some thought behind them.
I lived through the depression and I reuse ties and plastic bags and bread wrappers. I use the wrappers to hold things that go in the garbage so the sorters will have an easier time.
I wonder if the young people will have as a secure retirement as my husband and me.
We try not to waste anything.
I go through the subdivisions and see all the waste waiting for pick up and I wonder where my great grandchildren will live and where their trash will go if the present waste continues.
Monavis
Speaking as someone working in retail, my personal theory is that a lot of older people simply can’t understand new technology, so it’s a WOFTAM trying to advertise iPods, HDTVs, GPS units, Cellphones, and DVD Recorders to them in anything but the most general terms (HDTV will make your TV look REALLY GOOD, GPS units will stop you getting lost when you go to visit the grandkids in their new apartment, etc). As other posters have said, the attitude seems to be “I’ve managed for 45 years without X, I don’t need to buy one now.”
I think that ads for younger people work just as well for older people. Outside of Depends, replacement joints, and pacemakers ( 
), older people want the same products and respond to the same cues and advertising tactics as the rest of us. So why waste advertising exclusively targeting the elderly when you can catch two fish with one worm?
Also, old people want to be young, too. Hot young girls in bikinis will just as easily get a 50 year old to buy Budweiser as a 20 year old.
I might add that we older folks(At least the one’s I know) do not pay much attention to ads, I seldom buy any thing that is advertised,and didn’t when I was young. If it is a new product I may look into it but most ads are old hat. I wouldn’t buy a product if a celeberity says it is good unless he or she was an expert on the subject.
I have found off brands are just as good and sometimes better.
Monavis
I work in radio, and for a lot of stations, the ideal demo is Females 18-34 - the young mothers who are just starting out and building up their brands.
That said, we have noticed that a lot of TV advertisers struggle because people can TiVo the heck out of the commercials - except the older 34-54 demo, that is used to sitting through commercials and even though they use it as a time out, may still catch the beginning or the end of a commercial break (which is why some advertisers tend to do 2 commercials in a break).
Of course, I currently work for 6 different stations: sports talk, country, easy listening, adult contemporary (or AC), urban AC and CHR (contemporary Hip Hop Rhythm). Obviously, each one attracts a different demo, and therefore a different skew of advertising. What works on sports talk (mainly male demo) doesn’t work on easy listening (mainly female demo), etc.
The advantage for radio vs. TV is that you can’t TiVo past the commercials, and you are more likely to tune us in at work or on your pc, since we stream. Of course, you might also choose to listen to your iPod instead.
Which is why my company recently announced that they are selling off half our stations (including mine) and investing more in digital radio.
None the less, Radio is not having the huge dip in advertising that TV is - so it will be interesting to see what changes happen in the next few years. They could be major.
Bingo. I don’t pay attention to advertising much either, and don’t expect to when I get older.
But I’ve known plenty of older people go crazy about the newest infomercial product or kitchen gadget or gimmicky car. A lot of these people bought pet rocks and fondue sets in the 70s.
I just think susceptibility to advertising is set at a young age and that adults of all ages tend to respond similarly to ads that target young adults.
There’s Robot Insurance
No, older adults don’t tend to respond at all to ads, especially if they’re for consumer staples like soft drinks, beer, fast food restaurants, and shoes. They don’t respond not because they’re jaded, or sophisticated, or worldly-wise, but because they’ve been buying these items for thirty years and in almost all cases have already established their brand preferences. From an advertiser’s perspective, it’s almost impossible to induce a person to change a long-standing habit. It’s far easier to induce a young adult to establish that habit.
Note that there are exceptions such as erectile dysfunction remedies, which advertise to the point of saturation on shows that attract middle-aged men, like baseball and pro football. Nobody buys these when they’re young, so middle-agers haven’t established a preference yet.
Ordinary consumer products are different. There aren’t many 40-year-olds who switch from Coke to Pepsi, or McDonald’s to Burger King, or Bud to Miller, or Nike to New Balance. There are some, but not enough to make them worthwhile to target. You’ve got to get the 20-year-olds.
All of the product registration cards and such that I see, thing that ask for your general demographic information, ask the question along the lines of, “Which of these age groups do you fall into? A: 18-34 B: 35-49 C: 50-dead”. Having just turned 35, it’s a struggle to check the second box. I’m outside the key demographic! Sob!
Hear, hear! Older people have enough money, but not enough time. There is nothing that depresses the urge to buy a computer game, say, than to have 3 stacked up half played. That’s one great thing about NetFlix - the DVDs you’ve watched don’t clutter up the closet.
We’ve also gone right through the buying things to feel good phase. I buy stuff if I need it. If I need appliances or electronics, I’ll look at the circulars for the local stores. If I don’t, no TV ads are going to make me want something. And malls are not very appealing. If I need something, I’ll zip in and out as quickly as I can. Bookstores, on the other hand …
Humph. I’m 55, and I can work stuff just fine. In many cases, the need isn’t there. DVR yes, and I do know how to speed past commercials quite well, melodyharmonius. I’m not interested in HDTV, or at least not interested enough to get a new set. The Daily Show looks fine on my large screen TV today. I have a GPS which I use very rarely, since for the most part I know where I’m going. (And I can read a map, even a Yahoo one.) I have an MP3 player, which I like, but use to walk the dog, mow the lawn, or on airplanes. I’m not interested in watching TV on it.
It almost sound like you think new electronics have shown up only recently. We managed to use VCRs, and microwaves, and PCs long before the OS wiped your butt for you. I used instant messaging in 1975. My lack of interest in AIM today is from boredom, not inability.
Maybe when you are really old, it is harder. My father-in-law is forgetting stuff - though I taught him how to program when he was 65. (He’s well over 90 now.) But 55 year olds aren’t on the edge of the grave, thank you.
Well nobody said you can’t, but you have to admit that the older somebody is the more likely they are to be a 12:00 flasher. It’s a probability thing, not a law.
Not necessarily for everyone, though. I think people get stuck in their ways, to the point where they can’t handle even slightly different to what they’re used to- hence being unable to compehend the idea behind how a DVD Recorder functions, even though it’s exactly the same as a VCR, but it uses a disc instead of a tape.
Heh. When VCRs were big, it seemed an indicator of being scared of technology. I read plenty of stories of 12:00 flashing by younger people.