Old people active
Ageing Better hope its new image library will celebrate the diversity of older people and their experiences.

The Centre for Ageing Better has launched a free online library showing a wide selection of “positive and realistic” images of older people and enabling mobility companies to avoid portraying negative stereotypes in their marketing.

The library, which contains over 400 images and was commissioned by Ageing Better, will be regularly updated and will aim to show a more realistic depiction of ageing and old age –providing alternatives to the commonly used pictures of ‘wrinkly hands’ or walking sticks.

The launch of the new resource follows Ageing Better’s work on ageism and attitudes to ageing, including a recent report An Old Age Problem? which looked at depictions of later life across society.

The report found that stock image libraries often use unrealistically positive or negative depictions of people in later life and recommended that in both words and pictures, the media should attempt to communicate a more diverse representation of what it means to be older without resorting to stereotype and caricature.

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Images in the library are free for use and cover various themes related to ageing such as health, community activity and employment.

Ageing Better has also published a simple guide to using the image library and guidance around commissioning age-positive images. The charity is now calling on commercial image libraries to follow suit and do more to provide positive images of later life.

Anna Dixon, Chief Executive at the Centre for Ageing Better, said it is critical to show the diversity of people and their experiences of old age in the UK today:

“This new library of images is designed to include a more positive and realistic portrayal of later life.

“Representations of old age in the media are too often stereotypical and outdated, relying on images like wrinkly hands or skydiving grannies, rather than celebrating the diversity of people and experiences.

“Images, like language, shape the way we think about old age and ageing. Given so many more of us are living longer, it’s time we started using more realistic and positive imagery.

“We hope this library will be a valuable resource for anyone who wants to depict the diversity of later life, and will spur other organisations to follow suit.”

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