The unspoken bias hindering our sector

“We need to fight (………….) head-on, as a deep-rooted human rights violation.” — Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Let’s play fill in the gap. What do you think? Sexism? Racism? Would it help if I told you that it’s a form of prejudice that 1 in 2 people globally are guilty of (and yup, that’s 50% of us)? Let me enlighten you. The answer, my friends, is ageism.

Ageism — a global problem. A status quo. A commonly accepted form of prejudice that is causing excess spending on healthcare, a lack of experience and brainpower in our workforces and, inevitably, huge mental health problems — 6.3 million cases of depression globally according to the 2020 report from the World Health Organisation.

And guess what — (underwhelming revelation incoming) — you don’t have to look far to realise that advertising is guilty of it too. Let’s look at the facts before we start to play Sherlock Holmes.

Just check out the insane figures in this UK Advertising Association Census, which shows how heavily advertising is being propped up by the 24-34 age group, who represent 44% of the workforce – that’s compared to 23% of working people in that age bracket. Predictably, the percentage of the workforce drastically drops as the age rises - to a miniscule 4% of people who are age 55 to 64 years. That’s compared to 17% of the working population.

And it isn’t just on the desk side that age diversity is lacking. An analysis by CreativeX that looked at 126,000 global ads released in 2022 and supported by $124 million in ad spend, shows just 4% of people cast in ads were over the age of 60, underrepresenting  almost a quarter (23%) of the UK population. 

To add even more insult to injury, those ads that do represent the older generations are often causing offence. A 2021 AARP survey showed that nearly half (47%) concurred that “ads of people my age reinforce outdated stereotypes.”

Weird, huh? You would have thought that the marketing and advertising sector – obsessed with consumer segmentations and analysis, might be the first to see the value in the market. The-no-less-than-$7-trillion-annual-spend value in the market. That’s a 27% portion annually. And that’s only going to grow – Europe and North America are on track to have 1 in 4 people being over 65 by 2050.

I guess now would be the moment to bring up the now infamous quote from Mark Read, chief executive of WPP, who presented a workforce overview deck in 2020, revealing that the average age of its workforce was under 30. The controversy came when he added that "this means our employees don’t hark back to the 1980s – luckily". If I could do a cringe/facepalm emoji here, I would. Painful. But what is shows is a flagrant disdain for mature employees and the ideas they bring with them.

I know what you’re thinking. Technology. Mature consumers aren’t exactly known for starting viral TikTok dances and hashtagging their matcha lattes on insta, but even there, when you look at the figures, those assumptions don’t actually add up. 90% of mature consumers do use social media platforms daily and in some areas, they are spending more than their younger counterparts. In the US, for example, 46% of mature consumers purchase apparel online, compared with only 36% of younger consumers.

One of the words that has sprung to mind while writing this is innovation. Yup, that ol’ classic that’s still echoing off the walls of your nearest conference room. Innovation is often considered to be a young person’s game. Think of Mark Zuckerberg – 20 when he started Facebook; or Jeff Bezos in this recent viral video of his first amazon office.

Not dissimilar to the faces I see while walking the corridors of Mind Space Berlin… And it is true to say that the average age of successful start-up founders is between 35 and 45 — and that’s not even counting the likely younger founders of the 90% that aren’t successful. 

It’s markedly lower than the average age of a CEO, which in America is 54.1 years. Perhaps it is advertising’s obsession with the next big thing and being ‘ahead of the curve’ that is blinding us to the power of the mature consumer market.

There is one other factor associated with youth that might not be openly discussed, but I predict 90% of agency bosses value it, and that is stamina. There. I said it.

One of the things no one told me when I started my job in advertising was that I would have to work hours upon hours for zero overtime. When I was asked what was in it for me, the answer was always a promotion – to a level where I would have to work even more hours.

Frankly, it wasn’t either motivational nor was it compatible with my future ambitions as a someone that wanted a personal life. Let’s be honest, there is a time in your life when working until midnight to prove a point and get to the next level make sense. And then comes the time when it doesn’t.

This hasn’t been helped by the pandemic that has been a catalyst for an increase in those looking to leave their jobs, according to Forbes, who published an article in 2022 saying that 63% of agency talent want to leave their current jobs within a year.

It turns out that giving us the freedom to see what life in control of our days really looks like, has undermined the structure and community that agencies require to ensure maximum efficiency and commitment of their staff. Giving your life over to an agency ‘family’ is no longer worth not seeing your real family.

So where does this leave us? With a whole lot more work to do, I’m afraid. Age bias is a real issue and advertising needs to find a way to take some responsibility in helping to overcome that with the work they produce, encouraging their clients to talk to the full spectrum of their consumers. Not only that, but there is a clear issue when it comes to staffing – it isn’t just about employing and appreciating more mature employees, it’s about making the industry more sustainable for those that are already in it.