Social campaign OPEN TO SENIORS
Old age is the taboo of today! Diaconia of the ECBB has prepared, in cooperation with the ProBono Agency, a long-term campaign in order to change the public image of seniors, to show that old age and aging have their qualities, and to emphasize the fact that seniors are generally underestimated and overlooked by the contemporary society and media. Seniors are the largest group that Diaconia takes care of in its centers.
Is old age tabooed? Let’s stop increasing age discrimination
The main message of the first phase of the campaign represents the slogan: “Old Age is the Taboo of Today”.
Posters published in the 1st phase of the outdoor advertising campaign, starting in October 2010, on the phone booths all around the country as well as in printed media, turn the public attention to the fact proven by a number of contemporary sociologic and media surveys. This fact has been, however, little reflected by the public so far.
“People over 55 seem not to exist. You can hardly see them in the media except as victims of accidents or frauds,” says ProBono’s Creative Director Ivan Peterka of the reasons of the campaign that intends to change these stereotypes.
The expert guarantee of the campaign is Mgr. Lucie Vidovičová, PhD. (www.ageismus.cz). Seniors are handicapped compared to the young, they’re often called derogative terms (old bloke, greybeard), or perceived as “slow, baffled, inept…” Such behavior is called ageism: senior discrimination is deliberate, intentional and frequent handicap of elderly people because of their age and other aggravating circumstances, resulting in stigmatization and unnatural position of seniors, and denial of their well-deserved rights. (Vidovičová, Gregorová 2008)
Ageismus in domestic surveys
Based on domestic surveys, almost one third of people over 60, and more than a half of people over 70, have recently experienced a situation in which someone treated them differently just because their age. Ageism doesn’t only affect the oldest. A typical example is the discrimination of elderly people on the labor market, affecting, depending on the industry, even people of 50 or even 45 years of age.
Main focus
The main focus of the campaign is set by its name – Open to Seniors. What is it we want to open? Minds of people, attitudes of institutions as well as individuals, public and private areas – in short, the society. Opening it to the seniors, we open it to ourselves as well.
Providing services for seniors is a major part of activities of the Diaconia of ECCB. Every year, the Diaconia takes care of over 4,000 seniors in field services (nurses, care persons), ambulant services (such as stationeries) and residential services (homes for the elderly, hospices for the dying). The Diaconia has maintained long-term cooperation with the Czech Alzheimer Society.
As part of the campaign, we’ll be happy to offer the media features, discussions, advice and manuals how to avoid the age discrimination in local circumstances.
