Mature Market Experts: more news and stats you can use on boomers, seniors, and the mature market – Seniors, road rage, IPod phones, consumer products and why older women rule the world! (For some reason when we migrated our blog from our old blog URL to this one, this posting disappeared, so I figured I’d repost it, as I still think it holds true).

One of my favorite movies scenes of all times is when middle-aged baby boomer Evelyn Couch (Kathy Bates in the movie Fried Green Tomatoes) is waiting patiently for a parking spot in a shopping center. Just as the spot becomes available, two young girls in a cute little car cut in front of her and steal her parking spot.

Evelyn Couch: “Hey! I was waiting for that spot!”
Rude Girl: “Face it, lady, we’re younger and faster! “

Then, Evelyn calmly and coolly reeves up her car and then repeatedly rams her car into the back of their tiny VW Bug, smiles and says, “Face it, girls: I’m older, and I have more insurance.”

As our population ages, and as the senior population continues to possess the lion’s share of our country’s disposable income, it becomes more and more apparent to me that the mature market rules — or can choose to rule as Kathy Bates’ character did.

Research from Harris Interactive says that retirees feel that Madison Avenue has forgotten they exist. The study, commissioned by the TV Land cable network, shows that two-thirds of adult TV viewers say that most television programming and advertising is targeted at people under 40.

In cities around the county, an eye-popping 80+ percent of mature market respondents over 40 claim they can’t find TV programming that portrays their lives. The sooner programming reflects seniors’ interests, the sooner they will buy the advertised products. OK, maybe they aren’t rushing out to buy Apple IPads yet, but the mature market still buys a ton of consumer products.

I think these PowerPoint slides accurately capture the insanity of this situation.

Truth be told, I could care less if the mature market buy doesn’t buy products from marketers who are asleep. But I’m smart enough to know that economics is very often the driving force behind our society. How much longer will society devalue the mature market’s contributions (current and future)? If we are going to climb out of this recession, we need to recognize both the economic and social value of the senior population.