AARP and Getty Images Launch Photo Collection to Fight Ageism

Armed with AARP's insights, she says the firm has developed guidelines for its contributing photographers. The guidelines emphasize the need for imagery highlighting positive themes such as independence, dignity, empowerment, multigenerational relationships and connectivity, Swift says.

New AARP study

According to new research by AARP, adults 50-plus are under-represented in online media images, and when older Americans are shown, they often appear with gray hair and rarely are shown using tech devices.

Such depictions distort the reality of what older Americans look like and how they live, the study, titled “Media Image Landscape: Age Representation in Online Images,” says.

Among the study's key findings:

• Nearly half of all adults in the U.S. are 50 and older, but only 15 percent of the random sample of images studied showed people in this age group. That's fewer than 1 in 7 images.
• Adults 50-plus are portrayed in a positive light 72 percent of the time. That's much less than people 49 or younger, who are featured in a positive light 96 percent of the time.
• Although 1 in 3 people in the U.S. labor force are age 50-plus, only 13 percent of online media images show a middle-aged or older adult in a work setting.

The study examined a random sample of 1,116 images downloaded from professional and semiprofessional domains and social distributions for brands and thought leaders, defined as having at least 1 million followers. The media sources consisted of digital and social content on news sites, blogs, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

When it comes to hair color, data shows 31 percent of adults 50 and up have colored their hair in the past six months. That suggests adults with gray or salt-and-pepper hair are over-represented in online images.

When it comes to technology, other research shows that adults 50-plus will spend upward of $84 billion on tech products by 2030. But just 5 percent of the images showed this demographic group using a tech product — and when they are featured with a tech device, it typically shows a younger person teaching an elder how to use it.

The study also found people who are 50-plus are presented in online imagery as dependent and disconnected from society at large. Seven in 10 images show them alone, with only a partner, or with a medical professional.