Stop the Name Calling When Marketing to Older Adults

A few years ago, I received my first mailing from AARP. It was a bit shocking, because I was a decade away from being eligible for AARP. I was also a solid 25 years away from being Medicare-eligible. That mailer irritated me and I didn’t know why. Then it hit me. I realized that in the not-so-distant future, I will be generalized. I will be labeled. For some marketers, I’ll no longer be an individual, but part of the senior-adult demographic.

Marketers, or worse, non-marketers who have influence over a company’s marketing department, often fall into a trap of creating false generalizations; even offensive stereotypes about target audiences. This is most prevalent in healthcare marketing to seniors—a segment that will account for 45 percent of the U.S. population by the end of 2015.

Sadly, there aren’t many 65-year-olds in corporate marketing departments. And in the digital age, even Gen Xers are “old school” to some Millennials. This generation gap between marketer and target can result in a gaping chasm in ROI.

Even those with years of “experience” marketing to older adults are oftentimes completely off base. Over the last decade I’ve sat through countless frustrating discussions on “What do senior adults want to be called?” The options are inevitably always the same: senior adult, older adult, retiree, senior citizen, or my favorite…elderly. The answer is simple: they don’t want to be called anything.

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If I asked a 33-year-old what they wanted to be called, they’d be confused by the question. If I asked a 47-year-old what label she’d prefer, she’d say the same thing that almost every baby boomer says: “Don’t label me. Don’t call me a senior. Don’t call me an older adult. I’m a person, not a label.”

However, I’ve seen Millennials label Boomers “elderly” in healthcare advertising and marketing materials. I’ve listened to 30-somethings talk to 65-year-olds as if they’re frail little babies. It’s insulting, and I encourage the Baby Boomers to call out companies that talk down to them or communicate to them using these stereotypes.

The truth is, Baby Boomers are still the same cool people that are responsible for The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, Woodstock, and climate change. OK, that last one isn’t so great, but overall they are much hipper—and smarter—than most marketers give them credit for.

Next time someone asks what you prefer to be called, just provide him or her with the only appropriate label: your first name.

Brandon Moser

President & Chief Executive Officer

HowlandMoser Healthcare Marketing & Advertising

http://www.howlandmoser.com/