Images of the third age: a study of the representation of the elderly aired television advertisements in two Brazilian

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the speech in two commercials aired by broadcast television, one of the 1990s, and another, from the 2000s, in which the characters are elderly. This study used the references of Discourse Analysis of French Line, which has its precursor Michel Pêcheux. From linguistics seeks to show the changes that occurred in the focus given to the people of the Third Age who were protagonists of the following commercial: Copercap Bamerindus, 1997, Banco Real Talent Contest and Maturity, 2007. Furthermore, it was possible to investigate how the advertising text contributes to changing the way of presenting the aged and also provide insight to what is reflected on the need to educate these people for conscious consumption. Assuming that an advertisement is much more than it appears, concepts of discourse, ideology, production conditions, discursive subject, among others, were seized and applied in an attempt to understand it in its scope and breadth. This analysis found that the elderly in 1997 was presented as weak and passive, and in 2007, as active, capable and with great potential, which should be shown.