The mutton and lamb debate

Last week Debenhams announced that it was to “break a fashion industry taboo and became the first retailer to launch a campaign featuring models in their 40s, 50s and 60s to target ‘forgotten women’.”
 
A laudable aim, although a questionable claim as Woman and Home, M&S and Saga Magazine in particular regularly feature older models.  However, their underlying point is a valid one: high fashion and high street imagery is dominated by models under 25 with the result that older women are neglected in terms of fashion advice and styling tips – and clothes that we might actually want to buy.
 
The campaign, which the retailer is calling ‘The Style List’, sees Debenhams joining forces with fashion commentator and diversity campaigner Caryn Franklin. The Style List will give ongoing solutions, advice and guidance on how women 40+ can achieve any desired look, whether it be evening, day or weekend wear. This will be delivered in stores, online and through photography used by Debenhams.
 
There are three looks highlighted in the launch campaign; Power Dress, All Woman and Casual Cool.  The photographs of each do not, however, fill one with confidence.  The “oldest” person (presumably the one representing the 60s age group) is differentiated by her silver hair. The clothes the models have been given would be difficult to wear at any age unless one is exceptionally thin and has fantastic legs.

The campaign seems to miss the point that there is a gap in the market for wearable, aspirational clothes for real women, aged 50+, living real lives.  Not plus sizes, not glamour, not overly youthful trends, but clothes that hide your ageing bits and make the rest of you look as good as possible 24/7.  Helen Mirren, a great fashion icon for the over 50s, bemoans in this month’s Woman and Home magazine that there is a lack of dresses with sleeves for older women, commenting, quite rightly, that “As you get older, there’s more you want to cover up”.

Still, it’s good news that at least there is an increasingly acknowledgement (no doubt driven by the value of this largely untapped market) that older women don’t want elastic waisted pants, fussy prints, ugly shoes and pastel cardis. We’ve just yet to see a truly inspiring representation of what we might actually want.

A new chapter in Saga

 

Interesting news that policy adviser Ros Altmann is going to join the Saga Group at the start of October in the newly-created role of Director General. Apparently she hopes to continue with her work raising awareness of retirement issues in the media and in shaping policy – and amongst all else is planning research through customer surveys. As Saga has a million people on its books, she feels this provides a good opportunity for policy research.

Commenting on her mission Ros said:”We need better financial education, help with financial planning, part-time work instead of full-time retirement and a strong voice to represent the over-50s in the policy debate for those coming up to retirement, as well as pensioners. We cannot go on as we are. This age group is a huge political force and society must not take advantage of them. We are in danger of wasting their talents as they head for a miserable retirement, living on inadequate pensions or means-tested handouts”.

The obvious fly in the ointment is, of course, that Saga is a commercial organization, so the degree to which such research may be unbiased and of use to the rest of the world, may be questioned. However, Saga Group Executive Chairman Andrew Goodsell said: “Helping to change the way society perceives age and improving the lives and well-being of people over 50 has always been part of Saga’s mission”. So we will wait and see.

Ros’s policy background, media-savvy personality and in-depth grasp of pensions, retirement and finance means she is well placed to ensure that politicians, and others, sit up and take notice. However, regrettably, the image of Saga in the eyes of the world is very much associated with the declining, cruise-taking, comfy-slippers-wearing concept of ageing. Many active, vibrant over 50s wouldn’t touch it with a barge-pole (although, that said, many such as myself are sneaky subscribers to its magazine).

So – Ros needs to clarify who her research will be linked to when she talks about “the over 50s” having already referred to them (above) as a group that society takes advantage of– an image that many older people don’t associate with currently and wouldn’t want to, ever.

A brand overhaul and a change of name for Saga should also be top of the list of issues for Ms Altmann to tackle. Should she manage that, her appointment could start to make a real difference.

Nobody loves a fairy when she’s forty? – fifty? – sixty? – seventy?

Nobody loves a fairy when she’s forty
Nobody loves a fairy when she’s old
She may still have a magic power but that is not enough
They like their bit of magic from a younger bit of stuff
When once your silver star has lost its glitter
And your tinsel looks like rust instead of gold
Fairy days are ending when your wand has started bending
No-one loves a fairy when she’s old

These words were written in 1934 and made famous by the great Tessie O’Shea. Gradually “forty” has been replaced by “fifty” in the official version of the song and there is every reason to believe that were such a song to be written today it would be replaced by “sixty” or even “seventy”.

And so we come to the annual UK Older People’s Day to be held on 1^st October when many events will be held around the country to support our older population and to encourage them to take up all kinds of sports, pastimes, fun and social activities and a whole host more. The day coincides with the much wider International Day of Older Persons. If you look in your local paper or search the web you may very well find one in your area. They are to be applauded – with one reservation.

The whole day is built on the assumption that being an “older person” starts at fifty and that at this age we can only pay lip service to serious physical activity and mentally and physically demanding pursuits. It is time that this image was finally put to rest.

People in their fifties are not in their dotage and are not, in general, frail and vulnerable. Most of them are still very actively engaged in work – or would like to be if stereotypical representations did not portray them as “past it”. They have families to worry about, financial pre-occupations and are likely to be very active in the community or on the sports field. They are people to be reckoned with.

Until this portrayal is eradicated, once and for all, then programmes like Newsnight will continue to show random, patronising examples of elderly people enjoying themselves but talk in terms of the “Over 50s” in general.

Hardly consistent with the current first ever campaign for “Safe sex for the over 50s” is it?

RIP “Retirement RIP”?

On Tuesday night Jeremy Paxman hosted a BBC Newsnight programme “Retirement RIP” in which a panel of “experts” discussed various aspects of the current challenges our society faces around ageing – in particular, how to fund what is commonly known as “retirement”.  There were some good points made, although one suspects many fell on deaf ears.

Pensions expert Ros Altmann refuted the general approach of the programme which was that today’s retirees (Baby Boomers) are the last generation to be retiring on fabulous pensions.  This point was used to fuel an increasingly prevalent (but dangerous) debate about generational rights. In fact, the opposite is true: three-quarters of us retiring today apparently do not expect to be able to enjoy a traditional retirement for the simple reason that we won’t be able to afford it.

Ms Altmann also pointed out the very salient fact that although most older people either need or want to keep working, the majority would prefer to do so flexibly – ideally part-time.

Outside of this there were strange aspects to what could have been a more focused and powerful programme.  Whilst there was plenty of discussion about lack of pensions, no one mentioned the fact that as a savings vehicle pensions have been largely discredited and are now distrusted by many people of all ages. In a newsclip which interviewed three younger people about saving for the future, all mentioned putting away money in ISAs.

Will Hutton, head of the Work Foundation, mentioned that at 60 he felt he only had 10 years of productive life left ahead of him which was a very odd comment.  A tea dance for older people was used as a forum for discussing the needs and attitudes of “older people” as though this particular group exemplified how life is and what being older looks like for all over 50s.  And, (you could have put money on it) B&Q was used to exemplify initiatives around employing the over 50s.

Paxman distanced himself from the whole issue – it was definitely the case, as it often is with powerful people talking about age, that it was all about “them”, not me.

Whilst it is good news  that discussion about ageing is becoming more mainstream  we have now reached the stage where more meaningful and detailed exploration of the issues is required. Stirring up intergenerational conflict is not helpful, and bearing in mind that most older people have children, and most younger people have parents and even grandparents, this animosity is rarely replicated at a personal level. 

We need to start being more specific when using terms such as “retirement” and “older people” when today, the terms embrace such a wide range of different scenarios. We need to do more to overcome the social expectation (which to be fair the programme did acknowledge) that today, 50 or 60 is old, and therefore our behaviour, attitudes and expectations should be shifting from those of independence and strength to dependency and decline. More input is required to reinforce and present positive role models of what it really means to be over 50 today.

To view the programme (while you can) and draw your own conclusions click below:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tpsy4

Think retirement planning now

We are now entering the countdown to a major change in workplace pension provision from 2012. In line with this a new DWP report shows that more than half (56%) of employers and two-thirds (64%) of employees support the idea of auto-enrolment into workplace pension schemes.

Providing for our old age when it seems so far away and there are more pressing requirements never really captures the imagination. But the time moves ever closer for all of us and it is quite apparent that many are having to live out their retirement in more straitened circumstances than they would have liked and perhaps ever imagined.

The report claims seven million people are currently not saving enough to deliver the pension income they are likely to want, or expect, in retirement, and 2.5 million fewer employees are saving in a private sector occupational pension than in 1995.

The scene generally for pensions is not all that encouraging: the closure of final- salary schemes, reduced annuity rates, inadequate state pensions – the list goes on. However, the problem won’t go away by ignoring it and each of us must plan to the best of our abilities. Pension savings, equity release, working longer all have a place in it somewhere – and sooner rather than later has to be the guideline for us to employ in our thinking

Over time it will be better to drip feed money into your pension pot (forget you even earned the money now!) and take advantage of the contributions that your employer will make.

DWP minister Lord Freud said: “With only around half of employees saving into a workplace pension, our planned reforms are needed to prevent millions of Britons facing a penny-pinching retirement.

“It is encouraging that, despite the recession, the majority of employers are still in favour of pension savings.  We will work with business and the industry to make automatic enrolment work, so we can give millions more people the chance to save, and an independent review team is currently looking at how we get the details right.”

To view a Directgov video on the subject click the link below

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/Newsroom/DG_190416?cid=rss