Overview of Previous Research about the Effects of Featuring Older People in Advertising on Attitudes toward the Advertisements
| Author(s) | Journal | Stimuli | Sample | Findings Relating to the Effects of Older People in Advertising on Attitudes toward Advertisements |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bristo (1996) | Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising | Drawings of endorsers | Senior adults, N = 82 (United States) | One study examined responses to drawings of endorsers of different ages (young, middle-aged, and old). Attitudes were less positive toward the advertisement featuring an older endorser than for the advertisement featuring a middle-aged endorser. |
| Chevalier and Lichtlé (2012) | Recherche et Applications en Marketing | Photos of decorative models | Young and senior adults, N = 480 (France) | One study compared attitudes toward advertisements featuring female decorative models of different ages (20s, 40s, and 60s) in older (aged 60–75) and younger (aged 20–35) consumers. Findings indicate more positive attitudes among younger consumers toward the advertisement featuring a younger model, compared with the one featuring an older model. Results for the older consumers depended on their subjective age. The model pictures were pretested for model age but not for similarity between the model photos or model attractiveness. |
| Day and Stafford (1997) | Journal of Retailing | Drawings of older people | Students, N = 126 (United States) | One study compared attitudes toward advertisements featuring stock art drawings of groups of older and younger people. The results showed no effects of the ages of the drawings of endorsers on attitudes toward the advertisements. |
| Kwon et al. (2015) | Journal of Advertising Research | Photos of endorsers | Students, N = 235 (Hong Kong) | Two studies compared attitudes toward advertisements featuring older and younger male endorsers. The advertisements featuring younger endorsers were preferred, but only after priming with a collectivist (vs. individualist) mindset. |
| Nelson and Smith (1988) | Current Issues and Research in Advertising | Drawings of older people | Senior women, N = 122 (United States) | One study compared attitudes toward advertisements featuring drawings of older and younger women. The analysis focused on mediators and moderators (similarity, cognitive age, etc.) and did not explicitly compare attitudes for the advertisements. |
| Rotfeld, Reid, and Wilcox (1982) | Journalism Quarterly | Photos of decorative models | Middle-aged housewives, N = 240 (United States) | One study compared attitudes toward advertisements featuring female decorative models of different ages (20s, 40s, and 60s). There was no main effect of model age, but for elderly-oriented products, attitudes were more positive toward the advertisements featuring elderly models. |
| Skupin et al. (2020) | Academy of Marketing Science Annual Conference | Photos of endorsers | Students, N = 270 (Germany) | One study compared attitudes toward advertisements featuring an older (50s) and a younger (20s) male endorser. The findings did not show any effects of the age of the endorsers. |
Note: All articles that were listed in Appendix C of Eisend (2022) and reported research studies that measured advertisement attitudes were included in the analysis.