Ironically, the generation that first created the teenager as a social concept is now in its 50s and 60s and the first generation of so-called ’rock chicks’ and the first 1960s supermodels, including Jean Shrimpton and Twiggy, are all at or close to state retirement age.
Furthermore, Madonna, at age 45, and Blondie’s Debbie Harry have also now entered the scope of this report. However, when most marketers think of older women they do not see glamorous social rebels, they see frumpy middle-aged women or little old ladies.
It is this ‘baby boom’ generation, the first to kick against the social mores laid down by their parents and grandparents, that is refusing to age in the same way as the generation that went before them. This generation is embracing age-defying treatments such as hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and cosmetic procedures that help them both feel and look younger.
Refusing to ’grow old gracefully’, today’s older woman is helping to fuel the growth in the cosmetics, diet and exercise markets.
However, it is also this generation which left behind the legacy of youth worship seen today in the volumes of products and services aimed primarily at 16 to 35 year-olds, the advertising campaigns which demand ever-younger models and the rejection of women over the age of 45 as attractive or even employable by companies with agendas that insist on recruitment of the youngest and the brightest.
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