older people stereotypes in hong kong’s print … paper/lcom papers new, rev/2009 vol2/5... ·...

LCOM Papers 2 (2009), 57 – 76

Older people stereotypes

in Hong Kong’s print advertisements

Nicole Chui Shan Chan

The University of Hong Kong

[email protected]

In response to some recent studies which suggest that the elderly are negatively

portrayed in the mass media in many Western countries, this paper aims at

investigating whether the same happens in Hong Kong. By studying 10 print

advertisements collected from Oriental Daily, it is found that the elderly are positively

portrayed in the print advertisements in general. Thus, it can be concluded that

positive stereotypes and ideologies of older people are reinforced. These positive

stereotypes and ideologies are attributed to Chinese Confucian culture.

Nicole Chui Shan Chan 58

1. Introduction

This paper aims at examining the older people stereotypes portrayed in advertisements

in Hong Kong print media. With lower birth rates and longer life expectancy in Hong

Kong, the elderly population will reach 26% of the total population in 2036 (HKSAR

Planning Department Strategic Planning Section, 2006). In spite of the growing aging

population in the world, their portrayal in advertisements is rather limited in number

as compared to other age groups (Robinson et al., 2008; Lee et al., 2006; Robinson et

al., 2007; Umphrey and Robinson, 2006). Also, a vast number of recent research

studies in Western countries found that negative stereotypes of older people are

commonly found in media (Robinson et al., 2008; Lee et al., 2006; Robinson et al.,

2007; Umphrey and Robinson, 2006). With the influence of Confucianism in Chinese

culture, it is expected that a more positive portrayal of older individuals should be

found in Hong Kong’s advertisements. A content analysis of 10 advertisements

collected in the local leading newspaper, Oriental Daily, was conducted to examine if

people in Hong Kong share the negative stereotypes of older people found in many

Western societies.

2. Literature review

2.1 Definition and social functions of stereotypes

Prominent stereotyping refers to the process that all members of a group are

characterized with certain common qualities (Scollon and Scollon, 2001). Lakoff

(1987) suggests that prototype effects take place when one subcategory stands

metonymically for the whole category. Stereotypes define cultural expectations and

only focus on one or two salient qualities of a category. Therefore they are not

comprehensive which limit people‘s understanding of the genuine picture (Lakoff,

1987). Despite the fact that stereotypes are over-generalized, they are valuable in

defining hidden cultural expectations. For example, a stereotypical mother should be a

housewife; foster or surrogate mothers are deviants from the housewife-mother

example (Lakoff, 1987).

Since social stereotypes define cultural expectations, they are commonly used in

advertisement. Many studies have shown that advertisements which reflect local

Older people stereotypes 59

cultural values are more persuasive to consumers (Cho et al., 1999; Gregory and

Munch, 1997; Han and Shavitt, 1994; Taylor and Stern, 1997). Moreover, individuals’

attitudes and beliefs toward older people will be influenced by continuous exposure to

mass media (Lee et al., 2006). Therefore, media stereotypes play an important role in

shaping our perception toward older people in our society. Three research studies on

the portrayal of older people in the media will be introduced in the following. They all

share similar conclusion that older individuals are underrepresented in terms of

proportions of the actual population in the mass media, and older people are

negatively portrayed.

2.2 Three research studies of older people stereotypes in mass media

Robinson et al. (2007) conducted a content analysis on how Disney animated films

represented older people to children. 34 Disney animated films were collected, and 93

older characters were coded. The results suggested that while the majority (58%) of

the characters were portrayed positively as happy, wise, capable, healthy, alert, and

active, a large percentage (42%) of older characters were portrayed negatively as

bored, miserable, lonely, neglected, and sad, and they are typically peripheral to the

story. It is concluded that this could explain why children often have negative feelings

toward older people in general.

In 2006, a cross-cultural study of the portrayal of older people in television

advertisements was conducted by Lee, Kim and Han. A content analysis of prime-time

television advertisements from the United States (859) and South Korea (1,436) was

collected to examine differences in the portrayal of older people. The problem of

under representation was still prevailing in both countries but older people played a

relatively more significant role (86.1%) in Korean prime-time television

advertisements than in the U.S (36.5%). Besides, Korean prime-time television

advertisements were more likely to depict older characters positively as more vital,

generous, and independent, and as actively pursuing their goal and participating in

social life. The research concluded that the Confucian culture played an influential

role in shaping the portrayal of the elderly in mass media. In addition, it was found

that young people are more affected by the negative stereotypes portrayed in the mass

media.

Umphrey and Robinson (2006) found that young people are prone to internalizing the

stereotypical idea of older people as closed-minded, ineffective, and dull, and these


negative stereotypes influenced the way they perceive the elderly in daily life. Older

people also felt offended by the negative stereotypes used in advertisements.

The results of these studies are consistent in the sense that older people are

underrepresented in terms of proportions of the actual population in the mass media

and that older people are stereotypically portrayed as negative members of the society

in some Western countries. The negative stereotypes influenced the image of older

people, especially for the young people that they believe it was the way they are in

real life. On the contrary, positive stereotypes are found in Korea television

advertisements, which underlie the Confucian cultural value that emphasizes respect

for the elderly.

3. Methodology

Content analysis is conducted to examine the portrayal of older people in Hong

Kong’s media. Print advertisements with appearance of older people are collected

from the leading local newspaper – Oriental Daily. Older people are defined as

individuals aged 60 or above who have typical features of aging like grey/white hair,

and/or wrinkles. 10 advertisements with images of older people are collected from 1st

April to 31st May 2008 (see Appendix 1).

Factors from Aging Semantic Differential (ASD) are used to measure attitudes and

negative stereotypes towards older people in the advertisement (Intrieri et al., 1995).

Negative stereotype Positive stereotype

Idle Busy

Passive Active

Conservative Liberal

Disorganized Organized

Uncertain Certain

Indecisive Decisive

Uncooperative Cooperative

Dejected Hopeful

Sad Happy

Unpleasant Pleasant


4. Findings

4.1 Advertisements (see Appendix 1 for details)

No. Brand/ Product Description Stereotype

1 Hong Thai Travel

Agency

A daughter cuddling her mother Happy

2 Supplement for joints An old actor (Mr.Woo Fung) aged 70

or above, with a thumb-up and a big

smile

Happy

3 Health bank – Chinese

medicine in pill

A child sits on an old man’s lap, with

his wife, another child and 2 younger

adults behind him

Pleasant

4 Siemens – hearing aid A young woman cuddling an old lady

with wrinkles under the sun

Pleasant

5 Chinese medicine in

pill

A famous old actress (Ms. Liza

Wang), aged 60 or above, dressed in

traditional Chinese gown, looking

elegant

Pleasant

6 Arthro Strong –

supplement for bones

An old man dances with an old lady

with one leg up

Active

7 Ho Choi Catering

Group

An old lady smiles Happy

8 Medicament A old man bends down, looks

miserable

Dejected

9 Mortgage An old man smiles, with 3 other

smiling younger people

Pleasant

10 Compleat nutrient

supplement

A young woman holds an old man,

trying to help him to cross the gap

over the stream

Active /

Cooperative


5. Discussions

Not surprisingly, seven out of ten advertisements are health products or medicine (#2,

3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 10). This finding confirms Carrigan and Szmigin (1999) who note

that older characters usually appear in advertisements of health products or medicines

for overcoming infirmity or disability caused by aging. With a growing aging

population, marketers are targeting this so-called silver market. An overwhelming

majority of the advertisements whose targeting consumers are older people used older

characters to portray the results of after using the products.

However, this does not coincide with the phenomenon observed in some Western

countries, where even when the products are targeting older people, the advertisement

tended to use younger people more often (Robinson et al., 2008). Hence, it is

important to note that the positive images of older people in the Hong Kong media

could be prompted by the mother’s day promotion. Since the advertisements were

collected around Mother’s Day, advertisers may have used these positive portrayals to

arouse consumers’ desire to purchase their products. Another explanation for the

different stereotypes found in the Hong Kong and the Western advertisements may be

Confucianism. The notion of respect for the elderly is deeply embedded in the

Chinese society as exemplified by numerous Chinese proverbs that reinforce the

notion of respect for the elderly. The Chinese word 老 /lao/, meaning old is the key

word to search for proverbs related to the elderly. Six key proverbs that promote the

positive image of elder people are listed below.

5.1 From Lin Yutang’s “Chinese-English Dictionary of Modern Usage”

Example 1 家有一老老老老如有一寶

An older person at home, as valuable as a jewelry holds.

Example 2 敬老老老老尊賢

Honor the aged and the wise.

Example 3 老老老老吾老老老老以及人之老老老老

To honor the aged of other people, as we honor our own.

Example 4 老老老老馬識途

Experienced people know the ropes.


Example 5 養兒防老老老老

Raise children to provide against old age.

Example 6 老老老老而彌堅

Become more firm as one grows old.

In Chinese society, children are taught to respect the elderly. It is considered that the

older you are the wiser you should be. So the younger people should always listen to

the wisdom of the elderly. This idea contradicts the negative stereotypes of elderly

people found in many Western countries. Lee et al. (2006) found that prime time

television advertisements in the U.S. portrayed the majority of the older people as

weak and helpless. In our examples, the advertisements portrayed older people as

happy, energetic and healthy. The notion of respect for the elderly that we learn from a

very young age could be the reason for these cultural differences.

Five of the Hong Kong advertisements depicted older characters together with

younger characters as family members or friends. This implies the continuous support

from the family members. As the time I collected the advertisement was around the

Mother’s Day, a lot of products were targeting the younger generation to buy their

products as a gift for Mother’s Day. However, this is only part of the reason why

young characters appeared in the advertisements. What is really prominent in the

advertisements is the notion of filial piety, 孝 /hao/. It is considered as a duty of

every child to show filial piety, even when the senior is dead (Ting-Toomey, 1999).

And that is the reason why millions of people go to the graveyard during the Ching

Ming festival. In the examples, younger characters have close relationship with the

older characters as they cuddled with each other. And in advertisement 10, the young

woman is helping the old man to cross the stream, which symbolizes the youngster

offers help to the elderly to overcome any obstacles in old age as part of the

youngsters’ responsibility. This agrees with the Confucian values that youngsters

should respect older people and show their filial piety.

The majority of the Hong Kong images of older people are positive in the

advertisements, with only one advertisement (# 8) showing a negative image of an old

man who looked miserably and painful because of his back pain. Although most of the

advertisements depict older people positively, over-simplifications of stereotypes

should not be ignored (Robinson et al., 2008). There are still many older people who

collect cardboards in the streets of Hong Kong and a lot of older people who live in

the elderly centre are very lonely. Many older people from China are sent to Hong

Kong and are forced to become beggars so as to earn money by exploiting people’s


mercy with them. Therefore, these advertisements only show the stereotypical image

of older people in Hong Kong, i.e. the older people are treated decently and they

receive lots of care from younger people.

6. Conclusion

Stereotypical images of older people are not universally applicable. In many Western

countries, negative stereotypes of older people are found in the mass media, including

television advertisements, print advertisements, and Disney films. In these cultures,

older people are considered to be helpless, impaired and weak. These negative

stereotypes influence the perception of younger people toward the older people.

However, nine out of the ten advertisements collected in Hong Kong portrayed older

people positively as happy, energetic, and healthy. The difference in stereotypes found

between Hong Kong and Western countries could be explained by the Confucian

values. Confucianism teaches respect for the elderly and describes older people as

wise and high up in the hierarchy. These advertisements depict the elderly in

accordance with traditional cultural values so as to persuade consumers to buy the

products. The assumption that the stereotypes of older people in Hong Kong would be

different from that of Western countries due to the cultural differences in cultures was

confirmed. And although in real life, not all older people in Hong Kong are treated as

nicely as shown in the advertisements, stereotypes are helpful in defining cultural

values, especially with regards to the stereotypes found in advertisements.


Appendices

Source: Oriental Daily News (From April 1 to April 30)

Advertisement 1


Advertisement 2


Advertisement 3


Advertisement 4


Advertisement 5


Advertisement 6


Advertisement 7


Advertisement 8


Advertisement 9


Advertisement 10


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