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The representation of older people in television advertisements and social change: the case of Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2014

MICHAEL PRIELER ,
FLORIAN KOHLBACHER ,
SHIGERU HAGIWARA  and
AKIE ARIMA
MICHAEL PRIELER*
Affiliation:
School of Communication, Hallym University, Chuncheon, South Korea.
FLORIAN KOHLBACHER
Affiliation:
Business and Economics Section, German Institute for Japanese Studies, Tokyo, Japan.
SHIGERU HAGIWARA
Affiliation:
Department of Contemporary Communication, St Mary's Junior College, Tokyo, Japan.
AKIE ARIMA
Affiliation:
Department of Communication, Tokyo Woman's Christian University, Japan.
*
Address for correspondence: Michael Prieler, School of Communication, Hallym University, Dasan Hall #507, Hallym University Road 1, Chuncheon 200-702, South Korea. E-mail: prieler@hallym.ac.kr
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Abstract

The representation of social groups in advertising has been a major concern in academia. However, research focusing on older people has been scant and mainly conducted in Western countries. In Japan, the country that has been most affected by demographic change, this research area has received little attention. Through a content analysis of a systematic sample of 2,972 television advertisements broadcast on the five major commercial television stations in Japan in 1997 and 2007, this paper tries to fill this research gap, examining changes in the representation of older people in Japanese television advertising. When comparing 2007 to 1997, we found that older people appeared more often, were increasingly alone and in major roles, and were portrayed in more favourable ways, which suggests that their status changed. These changes appear to be related to the fact that older people have become more important within Japanese society. However, some aspects have remained unchanged; older people continue to be under-represented, which does not reflect demographic reality, and are used in advertisements for foods and beverages, confirming findings from previous studies. Our findings indicate that the representation of older people in Japanese television advertising has changed but remains unrealistic.

Keywords

Japantelevision advertisingolder peoplerepresentationcontent analysis
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 35 , Issue 4 , April 2015 , pp. 865 - 887
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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