"Distorted mirror"? 20 years of elders' images in Time magazine advertising.

This study of 5,796 models pictured in Time magazine's advertising over the past 20 years supported Pollay's view of advertising as a "distorted mirror" that misportrays Americans aged 60 or older. The 590 elder models (overall, 10.2% of the models in ads) steadily increased in visibility over 20 years, approaching their real-world U.S. population percentage (22.6% in 2019). Slightly more than three quarters of the elder models portrayed in Time ads were male – contrary to the actual demographics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]