Older people are far too often disadvantaged or discriminated against in the marketing of products, services, or just more generally in their dealings with organisations. The belief of the Silver Marketing Association and our Members is very straightforward and unequivocal on this: it must stop.
At one end of the spectrum, this disadvantage can be a simple one that is unintentional and often stems from ignorance, as in advertising that shows no understanding of, and catering to, the needs and requirements of older people. There can be practical issues too: websites, contact mechanisms, and mobile applications and platforms where little regard is given to usability geared towards this generation. At the other end, older people may be deliberately excluded from access to products and services on age grounds alone, or only allowed that access on more disadvantageous terms compared to younger individuals. This area also includes direct and indirect discrimination in the workplace, where after earlier legislation and then the Equality Act 2010, it is now rare to see, for example, job advertisements which overtly discriminate on age, but the ingrained wrong attitudes that led to them still exist.
Our pledge is to educate and work with our Members, and other organisations outside the direct Membership where we can, to improve that marketing and access to and for older people. Where embedded institutional discrimination still resides, we will seek to eliminate it through our campaigning at all levels, including to Statutory Bodies and Government.