Why Have the “Cantankerous Old People” Left the Neighborhood? The Representation of Old Age in Serbian Television Commercials – A Repeated Study

Abstract

The paper represents an attempt to examine to what extent the way in which older members of society are represented in Serbian television commercials has changed in comparison to representations which were present in commercials during the three months in 2009 (Milosavljevic 2010a) when the first study was conducted. As was the case in the first study, the focus is on dominant societal attitudes toward old people and old age which were utilized in making the television commercials in question. This was accomplished through analyzing both the positive and the negative stereotypes used to convey meaning in the commercials which were analyzed, as well as through the analysis of the proportional representation of older characters in advertising. The commercials which were analyzed here were broadcasted during the second half of December 2012, January and the first half of February 2013.

Keywords

• old age
• television commercial
• stereotype
• retro fascination