Readings

Morgan, L. A., & Kunkel, S. R. (2016). Aging,   society, and the life course (5th ed.). New York, NY: Springer.

Chapter 3, “An Aging World: Demographic Perspectives” (pp.   55–80)

Topical Essay, “Portrayal of Older Men and Women in Media”   (pp. 169–172)

Buffel, T., McGarry, P., Phillipson, C., De Donder, L.,   Dury, S., De Witte, N., … Verté, D. (2014). Developing age-friendly cities:   Case studies from Brussels and Manchester and implications for policy and   practice. Journal of Aging & Social Policy, 26(1/2), 52–72.
  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

Chen, H., Levkoff, S., & Kleinman, A. (2014).   Contextual knowledge: From globalization to global aging. Canadian   Journal of Sociology, 39(2), 141–158.
  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

Fealy, G., McNamara, M., Treacy, M. P., & Lyons, I.   (2012). Constructing ageing and age identities: A case study of newspaper   discourses. Ageing & Society, 32(1), 85–102.
  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

Fitzgerald, K. G., & Caro, F. G. (2014). An overview   of age-friendly cities and communities around the world. Journal of   Aging & Social Policy, 26(1/2), 1–18.
  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

Lundgren, A. S., & Ljuslinder, K. (2011). ”The   baby-boom is over and the ageing shock awaits”: Populist media imagery in   news-press representations of population ageing. International Journal   of Ageing & Later Life, 6(2), 39–71.
  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

Optional Resources

Wordle. (2014).
  Retrieved from http://www.wordle.net/

Enideo. (2016). WordItOut.
  Retrieved from http://worditout.com/word-cloud/make-a-new-one

Whether you realize it or not, everyone is subject to subliminal messaging. This has notably increased over the past 20 years as the Internet and social media have invaded our everyday lives. More advertising, marketing, and overt messages are presented than ever before. Within that overt messaging are other messages designed to pass below the normal limits of human perception. These are called subliminal messages, and they convey opinions, thoughts, and meanings to you. They might convey this through pictures, word choice, graphic design, and more. Specifically, advertising, marketing, and overt messages about aging and the elderly contain many subliminal messages about how society should recognize, treat, and perceive aging individuals.

In this Assignment, you will consider subliminal messages received from media, including advertisements. Then, you will evaluate how subliminal messages affect society’s thoughts, feelings, and opinions about the elderly, elder care, and aging.

To Prepare:

Find a total of five media resources: at least one global/international source, one national source from your country, and one local source from your community. Sources may include advertisements, magazines, newspapers, or agency websites geared specifically to older adults, but only one may be related to senior living facilities.

For this Assignment, enter the text/content of all the selected sources into one of the word cloud generators from the Optional Resources this week (or another of your choosing). You should choose one that provides a visual element to examine the results. The word cloud will reveal implicit messages present through analysis of word frequency, which you may then analyze through the literature.

The Assignment (3–4 pages):

Write a 3- to 4-page paper in which you do the following:

· Identify your rationale for selecting each media resource as it relates to this week’s readings and overall goals of the course.

· Explain any preconceived ideas, opinions, and/or judgments that you had prior to doing the search.

· Explain your reactions to the word cloud results as they relate to your own perceptions of aging. Support your reactions with two or three journal articles about the effects of implicit messages within media sources regarding people who are older.