DUH!

How revealing is this: A recent Nielsen study determined that boomers account for 38.5 percent of purchases of consumer goods, but only 5 percent of advertising expenditures are currently aimed at ages 45 to 64. “Today’s middle-aged and older consumers are different than their predecessors. The conventional wisdom that they spend little, resist technology and are slow to adopt new products needs to be re-assessed.  Boomers are an affluent group who adopt technology with enthusiasm,” Nielsen’s website says.

Does FOF Becca look like someone advertisers should ignore?

DUH!

We didn’t need a fancy study to tell us about members of our own generation, but someone needs to tell the rest of the world what we’ve known for years.

Someone needs to tell beauty companies with big name brands, like Estee Lauder, that it’s okay to feature great-looking FOF women in their ads because women don’t stop using beauty products at 27.

Someone needs to tell fashion companies, like Ralph Lauren and Gucci, that it’s okay to feature great-looking FOF women in their ads because women don’t stop buying clothes at 24.

Someone needs to tell car companies, like Toyota, that it’s okay to feature great looking FOF women in their ads because women don’t stop buying cars at 32.

Someone needs to tell tech companies, like Apple, that it’s okay to feature great-looking FOF women in their ads because we love our tech toys as much, maybe even more, than our youngsters. And, like the study said, we adopt technology with verve.

I would also venture to say that we’ll be taking care of our looks, our minds and our bodies right up until the moment our minds and our bodies give up on us. Not a moment before that.

As a matter of fact, I think Apple ought to get together with a wheelchair company and figure out how to jazz up those contraptions with storage pockets for iPads and iPhones. Might as well keep up, even if we can’t stand up.

We’re FOF and it’s going to take a lot to keep us down.

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0 Responses to “DUH!”

  1. The Style Crone says:

    I totally agree!!!! I’m 67 and have never felt better. I love my computer, my outfits, and my life. And I love your blog!

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  2. Angelika says:

    … spot on, that’s the sorry state of affairs and so much for “idolizing youth”.

    I have no numbers for Europe/EU-countries but my gut/observations tell me “more of the same”
    btw I use whatever technology suits me and my needs – tech has to serve me, not the other way round (just an observation of younger folks who enslave themselves to whatever gadgets).

    anybody else who also likes the off-buttons ?

    thank you Geri for your truly fabulous & awesome blog and this post !
    I will celebrate my 50th bd next year – may I join then ?

    your fan from Germany 😉

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  3. Deborah Chase says:

    I was staggered by your statistics. I knew that people over 50 were undercounted, but not by that much. And as for technology, I am taking a certificate in digital media marketing at NYU and running an A- average. About 1/3 of my classmates are over fifty, retooling for the next fifty years.

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  4. Deborah Chase says:

    Hi Geri,

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  5. Geri says:

    Hi MCatherine,

    Love love love your comment. Can you email me a photo of yourself. geri@faboverfifty.com to include in a blog on you.

    Geri

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  6. MCatherine says:

    I’m 63. I bought an Apple computer in 1994 and taught myself how to use it. Then because I had to reinvent myself after developing head/neck cancer which took away my ability to continue as a featured Mezzo Soprano soloist for Symphony Orchestras, I created the non-profit PARENT LINE, applied for a Oregon Dept. of Transportation grant and developed the ‘NOT MY KID’ Campaign to reduce fatal and injury crashes for 16 yr. olds, then turned the project into ‘inventing’ my own job with a local hospital and now I’ve started my own company HIDE A HEART. So, being over 50 is absolutely NO barrier to using technology, embracing entrepreneurial spirit and courage nor living a healthy choice lifestyle and keeping ‘chic at a certain age’….All those companies you list need to catch a clue! Shall we GO GET ‘EM and twist their ears until they LISTEN?

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  7. LPC says:

    Am 53. Worked in software. Not afraid of technology. Or Louis Vuitton:).

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  8. Toby Wollin says:

    Let me see – my first computer course was using a teletype terminal (no punch cards for me!!) in 1973. Our first home computer was an Apple II+ which we got in 1981. It came with software from Microsoft (yep…Gates’ company wrote stuff for Apple before they broke up and went separate ways) for keeping financial records, word processing, a simple art program, a couple of games, and probably the simplest fantasy game written which involved trolls, caves, weapons, and a bird in a cage. We owned the first Mac. We owned the first Mac for kids that had wonderful software for teaching kids math and reading (the only thing that got my son to learn to read AT ALL). I started my first marketing services business on the Mac and also got involved in one of the early waves of AOL chatroom hosts in the 1980s and got to use the original IM (which at that time was used to basically call in the AOL chatroom police to invisibly reach down and yank someone being naughty and throw them out the door). My mom, just before she had her last illness, was excitedly researching a home computer versus an email appliance so that she could email all of her grandchildren, chat with them, and use Skype. She was 86!! Yes, there are some older women, especially those who are over their 70s, who are perhaps leery of technology. But part of that might be due to vision issues, or lack of knowledge in terms of how to operate securely on the internet – considering that women who are 70+ now were born in 1940 and grew up with television, the space race, the start of the huge expansion of education and work opportunities for women in the 1960s, microwave ovens, you name it, there is no reason to believe that women even at that age would have no interest in technology. they might see an advantage to a computer with a voice input if they have physical limitations such as arthritis, or a voice output if they have vision issues. But no interest? Heh.

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