Ageism on TV Hurts Everyone

Why do commercials imply that people over 50 are dimwits about tech?

Where’s the gray hair in tech ads? / Credit: Samsung

You see a lot of hair colors in the ads for new autumn smartphones. But one color is noticeably absent: gray. That’s especially true in tech ads.

Most Americans aged 50–64 own a smartphone. But older people appear in only 15 percent of media images used by popular groups or…