Why do adverts irritate me so much?

Ever wondered why so much advertising is aimed at the young? And that what advertising there is which might be construed as directed towards a wider or an older market contains outdated, outmoded and very patronising stereotypes of older consumers and older people in general?

 Well, one clue might come from looking at the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) 2010 Census of those working in media, advertising and marketing communications agencies. Leaving aside disturbing issues of race and gender, and looking just at age, we see that of the 18843 employees included in the census; just 5.3% were aged over 50 and 13.5% were 41-49, while 35.7% were 31-40 and a whopping 45.5% were aged 30 or below.  Granted, for all kinds of areas of activity, you don’t have to fall into a particular category to have some kind of empathy with the particular condition - but it does make you wonder. In such a self-reinforcing and self-congratulatory environment which areas and approaches do you think are going to be seen as the most attractive and most “sexy”, and also where can we get a few cheap laughs without stretching our brains too much?  The best generals, of course, recognise their own limitations and bring in relevant expertise when necessary. Let’s hope these young lions are doing this when it comes to really understanding a massive, growing and very important part of the economy.    www.inmyprime.co.uk