Older consumers have long been the ‘invisible majority’ in advertising despite the rapid increase in an ageing population. A significant proportion of this population have high levels of disposable income, even in times of recession, but advertisers are not encouraging them to part with it. This paper intends to find out why advertisers have been slow or struggle to target older consumers effectively. The aims of this study are two-fold. First, it explores the portrayal and representation of older consumers in Tesco's ‘Dotty’ campaign and Marks & Spencer's (M&S) ‘Twiggy’ campaign, with special reference to the use of celebrities. The second aim is to demonstrate how the focus has shifted from the more traditional, negative stereotyping (Tesco campaign) to a more progressive approach, presenting aspirational images that older consumers can identify with (M&S campaign). Although both campaigns were effective in terms of increasing profits, this paper suggests that the ongoing M&S example of using older celebrities in advertising campaigns demonstrates a more effective creative strategy that is in tune not only with a growing population of older consumers but is also especially applicable in times of economic uncertainty.

David Chaney (2001) argues that access to lifestyle templates are available primarily through multiple media channels, where lifestyle is an example of a new “social form” based on specific patterns of consumer choice. This article examines a very particular kind of “celebrity.” It is concerned with how television, print, and advertising contribute to the construction of media stars whose function is to transfer knowledge of particular lifestyles to the lived experience of ordinary people. It looks at systems that direct the flow of such information and why the proliferation of this new breed of expert arises out of a particular set of historic conditions, namely the rise of and recent challenges to neo-liberalism. Specifically, it explores the role of the celebrity expert as cultural intermediary at a time when objective and subjective class positions do not necessarily coincide. The social anxieties that arise as a con sequence sees the domination of the market as an economic and cultural space in which such anxieties are increasingly played out. This allows questions to be posed that consider the proliferation of the celebrity expert, their role as tastemakers in contemporary culture and how viewers appropriate, or not, the particular lifestyles that are communicated across popular media forms.

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Fast fashion has entered the political arena with specific reference to sustainability. To date the agenda has largely been informed by an examination of production methodologies and techniques documenting the rapid turnover of trends, the speed and efficiency of the production process and the lack of socially cohesive labour practices that it consistently engenders. Whilst governments seek to raise awareness and begin to generate initiatives to tackle the environmental fall out of fast fashion, this article turns its attention to the temporal patterns of consumer behaviour and why such a high percentage of what we buy is readily discarded soon after point of purchase. All stages in this linear model of consumption, it is argued, are shaped by a very specific relationship to time that ultimately informs our buying habits. Utilizing the work of the philosopher A. N. Whitehead and adopting a more psychosocial approach to fashion consumption, this article recognizes that even when purposefully seeking to consume sustainably, a greater need to align our use of time with a results-driven mindset locates the acquisition of something new as a highly achievable goal. As a consequence, rather than positioning the rationale for fashion purchases in the context of conspicuous consumption and emulation, here it functions to mitigate a lack of temporal control in other areas of our lives. In response, it is proposed that any successful attempts at tackling the problems associated with fast fashion must also seek to understand the temporal dynamics of consumption. For whilst governments’ attention is turned to ways to reduce the environmental impact associated with the production of clothing, increasing consumer demand derived from ‘neophilia’ will negate and indeed overturn any successes achieved. The conclusion will therefore suggest that promotional culture has a duty to explore ways in which it might engender greater emotional attachments to what we own. Future research into brand messaging, exploring the consequences of placing emphasis on quality over quantity and a subsequent potential deepening of a sense of brand loyalty, is also recommended as a way forward.