Ageism in Fashion Marketing webinar – coming soon
The majority of marketing communications advise older people, mainly women, to dye their hair, get rid of their wrinkles and lose weight to continue to be relevant in society. Advertising messaging is around age denial and the need to keep looking young or become invisible. It’s a sad reality that ageism in the fashion industry is widespread and consumers feel excluded from mainstream fashion because ageing is not reflected positively in the majority of the imagery we see in magazines and other advertising.
Our three panellists are experts in the field of fashion marketing & ageism, and will talk about the current landscape as well as describing ways in which the future looks more optimistic.
Dr. Hannah Swift is a Reader in Social and Organizational at the University of Kent. She is a leading expert on ageism and behaviour change, focusing on understanding experiences and expressions of ageism. Hannah has experience designing, implementing, and evaluating interventions, and is leading the Redressing Ageism in Fashion project. She developed a national barometer to measure prejudice and discrimination in Britain and provides training and advice on equality and diversity matters.
Hannah will talk about how the fashion industry views and understands ageism and she will present some new research findings demonstrating the impact of using older vs younger modules on how we perceive clothes.
Jacynth Bassett is an award-winning anti-ageism pioneer, leading the way for social change and age inclusivity in the fashion industry. Having grown frustrated at seeing women (like her mum) being increasingly alienated by the fashion industry, she identified a gap in the market, and founded The Bias Cut – the first truly age-inclusive online style boutique. Jacynth also leads the global campaign, community & consultancy ‘Ageism Is Never In Style®’, disrupting and changing the way fashion – and society – views ageing.
Jacynth will talk about…. how to understand and connect with today’s 50+ fashion consumers, especially through social media, visuals, content creation and community (and how to not alienate younger consumers in the process); the success of Ageism Is Never In Style’s global, viral #ILookMyAge campaign (30+ million UGC); and partnering with charity Centre For Ageing Better to create the first collection of free editorial stock imagery of 50+ women to improve representation in the media.
Stephanie O’Dell, founder & CEO of Celebrate The Gray, is passionate about updating the age of models used in marketing and giving women their power back in their aging journey. She has built a strong following and community of like-minded women who want to change the face of aging. Celebrate The Gray Agency is for and about 50+ women representing over 200 gray/silver haired “real” models with access to 100s of influencers/content creators aged 50+ and offer age inclusion consulting for brands and companies.
Stephanie will talk about where aging messaging comes from and who writes it? And how 1000’s of conversations with women aged 50+ has changed the direction of Celebrate The Gray Agency. Women want to be seen as they age in marketing and want their faces, bodies, voices and opinions valued and authentically represented. She says “I believe that being a woman today means not letting anyone define you. You define you!”
Ageism in Fashion Marketing webinar – coming soon