Visual ageism on public organisations' websites

The portrayals of older people as a social group, as well as the type of characteristics in these portrayals, matter in societies that value social justice and power balance. These representations, often visual, can play a role in stereotype formation and reinforce stereotypes. Encountering such stereotypes in the media can negatively impact the self-esteem, health status, physical wellbeing and cognitive performance of older people (Levy et al, 2002a, 2002b). The act of visually under-representing older people in the media or visually representing them in a stigmatised way is not harmless, as it not only reflects societal practices, but also contributes to meaning about these practices (Hall et al, 2013). Empirical studies have been conducted on the visual representation of older adults in the media (see reviews by, for example, Ylänne, 2015; Loos and Ivan, 2018), but only a limited number of studies have focused on the way public organisations visually represent older people in their digital communications. Therefore, this chapter will address the following research questions:
• How do public organisations use visual signs to represent older people in photos on their websites in Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK?
• Which connotations of the visual signs predominate in the pictures?
• To what extent is this visual representation characterised by the misrepresentation of older people?
We will first present and discuss insights from the field of the visual representation of older people and the concept of ‘visual ageism’. Then, we will analyse how public organisations across a range of European countries use pictures on their websites, presenting information about relevant products and services and representing older people. We do this through the lens of ‘visual ageism’ – ‘the social practice of visually under-representing older people or misrepresenting them in a prejudiced way’ (Loos and Ivan, 2018, p 164). If older people cannot identify with the pictures that are supposed to represent them, the probability that they will consult such websites decreases (Loos, 2013, 2018).
The analysis will be conducted by using a semiotic approach (see Loos, 2018; Xu, 2019), focusing on photos from the websites of public organisations in diverse countries: Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK. Instead of conducting a classic comparative quantitative study on these countries, we analyse our data per country in a qualitative way. At the end of the chapter, we will present our conclusions and address some limitations of the research and implications for future research.