Recently I read an article in The New Yorker indicating that it is the kiss of death to promote any item that looks like it is for old people. In other words, for me. Apparently in the 1950s the Heinz company tried a product line called Senior Food which was essentially baby food for old people. It not only failed spectacularly, but made it impossible for anyone to ever think of making a similar product.
And we all remember the commercial with the lady lying on the floor calling out “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.” The product being sold is a simple item that one wears around the neck and summons emergency help when a button is pressed. It is easy and effective, and yet none of us old people want one. In the United States the company has only managed to penetrate 4% of the over 65 market. But the really amazing thing is what follows. A German study showed that when those few who subscribed fell, and remained on the floor for longer than five minutes, they failed to call for help 83% of the time. In other words, they would rather flop around on the floor than admit that they were old and needed help. The article concluded that identity matters more to us seniors than utility, and we are NOT going to admit we are old.
Perhaps that is because identity is so wound up these days in what we look like, rather than in what we are. If the world sees a pendant around an old neck, is the assumption that that individual no longer has anything relevant to say? If the world sees gray hair pushing a walker, is it going to assume that person’s ideas are as weak as his legs? Perhaps it is not identity that we older people fight against, but dismissal. We are still here, albeit perhaps on the periphery of society, but do not count us out.