Growing Old Disgracefully: 5 OAP Ads Making Oldies Cool Again

We live in a society where the oldies are taking over. By 2018, older people will outnumber children for the first time. Over the next 30 years the number of over-65s is forecast to almost double, from 506 million in 2008 to 1.3 billion. And if you€™ve turned on your TV in the past decade, you€™ll have noticed that the ad men having let this fact slip by them. Magazines, movies and music may still be obsessed with the cult of youth, but increasingly adverts are being aimed at the elderly, and with good reason. As well as creating ads for more products aimed at older customers, advertisers are bucking the youth-oriented trend, and switching the glowing supermodels for wrinkles, and featuring the elderly in their ads. Usually done with a good dose of humour, it€™s had a surprising effect on the way we view old people, challenging the stereotypes, and making us sit up and take notice of a whole section of society that€™s often ignored. We€™ve taken a look at some of the best ads that have helped put the hip back into hip replacements.

Babs Windsor for Jackpotjoy

From her saucy Carry On heyday, to her no-nonsense Eastenders pint-pulling behind the bar at the Queen Vic, Babs Windsor is a true national treasure. Swapping the Queen Vic for her new role as Queen of Bingo, her latest ad for Jackpotjoy sees her presiding over a race with a difference. Taking to the drag strip to burn some rubber ain€™t the teenagers in souped-up wheels you€™d expect €“ it€™s a pair of OAPs tearing up the track in their mobility scooters, and rocking out to the Darkness while they€™re at it.

Betty White for Snickers

The runaway advertising hit of US Superbowl ad breaks a couple of years back, this Betty White ad stunned viewers, and helped relaunch the career of the octogenarian actress in the process. The former Golden Girl hadn€™t been seen on US screens for years, then showed up to remind us that OAPs can age with attitude (and a potty mouth too!) She€™s since gone on to further TV fame, with stints on Saturday Night Live, stealing the show in her cult hit sitcom Hot in Cleveland, and her own reality TV show Off Their Rockers, delighting in pranking young kids.

Kenny Dalglish, Graham Taylor and Terry Venables for Sony UK's World Cup 2010

These elderly statesmen of the beautiful game sprang up on our screens for the last World Cup, sending up the stereotypical nursing home. Under the watchful care of every guy€™s dream nurse, Kelly Brook, they€™re not as addled as they seem. The spark€™s still in them when the football€™s on, mischievous to the end, and, just like old times, they€™re keen to get rid of King Kenny€

Budweiser Grannies

Wassssssup. Thanks to Budwesier, If you€™ve lived through the past decade, that one word will be scorched into your mind as possibly one of the most annoying catchphrases of all time. But Bud gave things a fresh new twist when they got a group of savvy grannies together to send up their ad campaigns, parodying a Scary Movie scene, that itself was a parody of a Bud commercial. OAP meta comedy at its finest.

Twiggy for M&S

So far, we€™ve seen ads that show that OAPs have a sense of humour, mischief and wit that we might not give them credit for. But lining up next to the likes of Lily Cole and Erin O€™Connor, sixties icon Twiggy returned to our screens in the UK to prove that OAPs can be sexy too. She€™s now the famous face of Marks and Spencer€™s, creating a clothing range for the older woman, and putting some swing back into the over-sixties.
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