Yesterday, I filled out a little form asking me for some personal information on a site that I use every day to check the TV schedule for the day. One of the questions it asked was my birthday. I’ve been using this site for months now, and the advertising I’ve been seeing has been of the general-interest sort. Today, however, the ads involve the following products:

• One of those male enhancement products
• A raised toilet seat for old folks
• A medical rehab shower chair

C’mon! Give me a break here. Ok, ok, in just a couple of weeks I’ll be 47 years old. But hey, I’m not quite ready for senior citizen products! Granted, I could probably use some pre-alzheimer memory boosting tablets, but I can still manage to go to the bathroom and take a shower without the use of special equipment. And since I’m a woman, I don’t need that other “special equipment” offered, now or ever.

Advertisers need to be careful when targeting by age. Don’t tick off your future potential customers. Set your senior citizen age-targeted ads to an age group that is appropriate. Heck, at least wait until I hit that magical age of 50 before deciding I need to be put into an old folk’s home! Bah.

(from Smash Mouth. "AllStar" Astro Lounge. Interscope Records, 1999.)

Posted on December 14th, 2006 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: Life