title: [Presence and representation of older people in prime-time television advertising: the Spanish case].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The demographic shift towards aging population generates a series of socioeconomic and cultural changes that are beginning to transform the role and public image of older people. The elderly have become one of the market segments with a greater future. This fact has attracted little scientific interest in the field of advertising communication and for this reason there is little research that is actually looking into this Spain. This research examines the use that is made of the image of the elderly in the television advertising in Spain, looking at the differences between the advertisement dedicated to the targeting people over 65, and those that are not directed at the elderly, but use older people in their content as actors or main characters in the advertisement.
  
  
  METHODS
  A content analysis study was conducted on a sample of 2,065 spots obtained from prime time slots (from 20:30 to 22:30 p.m.) from the five major Spanish television channels (TVE 1, La 2, Tele 5, Antena 3 and Cuatro). Two independent judges coded all the advertisements. The reliability coefficient between judges was 0.91.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In general, older people, particularly women, are not very often shown in Spanish advertising. Their presence is much stronger and visible in campaigns which aim their communication strategy at different age groups. In those cases, advertising presents the elderly with a stereotyped, self-interested and traditional image.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Comunicación y Psicología Social, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Universidad de Alicante, Alicante, Spain. Irene.Ramos@ua.es
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ramos-Soler
authors.forename: M Carmen
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Carretón-Ballester
mesh_terms: D000329:Advertising / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013030:Spain; D013690:Television