Purpose This purpose of this paper is to identify the travel constraints faced by retired travelers and the influence that becoming old in the 21st century exerts on the erection of travel barriers. Design/methodology/approach This research relies on a qualitative approach and the narrative analysis of 15 transcribed interviews with retired adults between the ages of 60 and 85 years. It uses the typology from the hierarchical leisure constraints model to identify and classify the travel constraints faced by older adults today. Findings Interviews with retired respondents led to the identification of 10 categories of travel constraints. The results confirm the specific influence of advancement in age and the need to reinterpret known constraints in the context of ageing today. Research limitations/implications This paper contributes to the understanding of the travel constraints faced by retired adults today. It reveals the necessity to take the influence of ageing today into account to fully understand travel constraints for the current generations of retired travelers. Practical implications This paper provides recommendations to help practitioners and social policy makers overcome the barriers that prevent retired adults from travelling. Social implications This research helps to understand the constraints faced by retired adults when they wish to travel and provides recommendations on how to overcome them, thus contributing to helping retired adults optimize their travel potential and reap the health and wellness benefits associated with traveling. Originality/value This research identifies the specific constraints faced by retired adults today and presents them in a clear and readable format of constraint categories. It extends the existing research on older consumers, marketing and tourism.

Purpose This study aims to examine how exposure to female models in advertisements can create identity tensions in senior women and how they manage the comparison and develop different adaptation strategies to deal with these tensions. Design/methodology/approach This research is based on a qualitative approach involving 27 in-depth interviews with French women aged 60 to 79. Photo-elicitation with choice of models as reference points by respondents was used to capture comparison strategies with regard to models. Findings Interviews with senior women confirm that identity tensions due to appearance arise in the context of ageing, particularly when senior women are faced with advertising models. Three reactions of senior women to identity tensions are described, namely, avoiding comparison to protect the self, engaging in comparison despite its resulting devaluation of the self, proceeding to a positive comparison that reinforces their identity. This paper finds that comparison modalities are specific to each strategy. Research limitations/implications This research opens the way to further investigation, especially with regard to understanding social comparison mechanisms in an advertising context for senior women targets. Practical implications This paper raises awareness of the effects of senior women’s exposure to advertising on their self-perception in the context of ageing. It provides practical guidance to advertising professionals on the use of models in ads when targeting senior women and helps marketing managers in their communication strategies. Social implications This research reveals pronounced identity tensions in relation to appearance among senior women in the context of advertising exposure. By providing more diverse models, advertising representations could help to improve the identity perceptions of senior women. Originality/value Very few studies have hitherto investigated identity effects on senior female consumers of female model usage in advertising.