A new campaign tackling ageism in the advertising and media industry has been launched by dating app Lumen.
The push from Lumen, which targets the 50+ age group, includes images of three men and three women, all aged between 50 and 65, completely naked holding placards with slogans such as "grey hair don't care", "nobody puts granny in the corner" and "it's our time to be seen".
The campaign comes off the back of new research from the UK which found almost nine in 10 people aged over 50 think advertising targeted at them needs to change.
Lumen co-founder and CMO Charlie Lester says that the results show advertising is in need of a real wake-up call to stop "everyday ageism".
"Not only is it a case of underrepresentation, but heavily edited images are making older people feel like it’s not ok to be themselves," Lester says.
“We’re calling on advertisers to reconsider how they portray older age groups, and show them for the attractive, funny and real people they are. Just because you’re aged 50+ doesn’t mean you can’t be sexy and have a little fun.”
More than half believe that there is too much airbrushing, while more than a third think that the models look plastic and celebrities are made to look younger than their actual age.
Overall, 31% believe that advertising is ageist.
57% identify fashion as the sector that gets them most wrong, followed by beauty, 42%, health and wellbeing, 36%, and travel and leisure, 30%.
The images are being displayed across billboard in Australia.
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