Friday, September 05, 2003

Many happy returns and welcome to your dotage

Richard Tomkins article in the FT on the 5th Sept is a ‘must read’. Unfortunately access to article is restricted to subscribers of the FT news service.

Mr Tomkins has just ‘celebrated’ his 51st birthday and received the Saga Magazine. He found this experience as if ‘the grim reaper himself had appeared in the doorway and given me a beckoning wave with his scythe

His initial fear faded as he recalls the new exciting era of the 50+. ‘They party, surf the web, work out at the gym, ride Harley-Davidsons, wear designer labels, dine at fashionable restaurants and sport tattoos’. He was disappointed.

The remainder of the article described the depressing contents of the magazine and how marketers persist in their use of idiotic 50+ stereotypes.

He ends the article - "Hope I die before I get old," sang Roger Daltrey (The Who) Some of us are still singing it today.

This should be compulsory reading for all marketers.

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