How the Beauty Industry Targets Women Over 50 with Martha Laham

Martha Laham peels back the mask on the beauty industry—and it’s not pretty. Anti-aging creams, serums and “pots of promise” that claim to turn back that clock are among its most lucrative products. The trouble is that most of them don’t work. “In societies that worship youth and beauty, the appearance of aging is often met with escalating disdain. The beauty industry capitalizes on this,” says Laham. Martha Laham is a professor at Diablo Valley College, where she has taught business, marketing, and advertising for 30 years. She has authored college textbooks in marketing and selling, developed instructional materials for educational publishers, and contributed to HuffPost. She is the author of The Con Game: A Failure of Trust (2014). Martha lives in Oakland, California. 

Chat Transcript

12:06:22     From  Catherine Narro : Hi Everyone! Thank you Steve and Martha. Looking forward to this presentation! -Catherine Narro, SenCura Home Care - Catherine@sencura.com - 703.880-2547. We have caregivers all over Northern Virginia!

12:07:30     From  Ronald Caplan   to   All panelists : Hi Ron here.

12:07:54     From  Abiola Bajere : Hi everyone.  Abbey here from DSS.  Welcome Martha.

12:08:11     From  steve gurney   to   Donna Powell and all panelists : here you go! https://www.grektek.com/homemonitoring/

12:08:25     From  steve gurney : Here is the link for everbeat https://www.grektek.com/homemonitoring/

12:09:38     From  Ada Horsfall   to   All panelists : Thank you Steve and Martha. Relevant information for the times we live in!

12:10:00     From  SUSAN I WRANIK : Apropos of gender representation:   Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media <gdigm@seejane.org> Most enlightening!

12:21:59     From  Ada Horsfall   to   All panelists : Ada Horsfall from Lifematters Homecare and Care Management Company providing Skilled Nursing Services, Care Management, Caregiving and Social Engagement Concierge services in the MD, DC & VA region.         301-615-0616    ahorsfall@lifemattersusa.com www.mycaremangement.com 

12:22:46     From  Donna Powell : Recently starting seeing TV ads for Botox injections and all actors shown are hip fashionable 30-somethings

12:24:09     From  Elva Roy : Anybody remember the 2002 book by Naomi Wolf "The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women?"

12:29:01     From  Olive Freeman   to   All panelists : Hello everyone. From Olive Freeman, Senior Care Management Advocate

12:29:32     From  Victoria Hathaway   to   All panelists : Vic Hathaway here (senior division director at Bob Lucido Team of KWIN, Victoria@BobLucidoTeam.com, 410-979-4284) on the warpath always against Ageism, particularly against women in our culture. If I had a dollar for every time someone told me they are shocked that I list my graduation dates on my LinkedIn as “no women do that.” I love what you are saying about how poisonous and pervasive the thinking is that Aging is a BAD Thing. I don’t want to dictate what any women chooses to do, I just want to see it get better for women who choose to EMBRACE aging and to fly the flag that it is a GOOD thing and something for which to be GRATEFUL, never more so than right now.

12:35:33     From  Victoria Hathaway   to   All panelists : When I go on sales appointments, which are exclusively always with older people, sometimes the agent will lean in and say “Oh, you’re not old, Mrs. Smith” and I literally kick them in the shins. First off, it’s a bold-faced LIE, never good in sales lol, and second it turns Being Old into a thing you DON’T want to be! Drives me crazy. Thank you for this presentation; I know it will help create Change!

12:35:51     From  Elva Roy : "Community Center" instead of "Senior Center" is not really descriptive of what it is. I have been very involved in getting a new $45M world-class "active senior center" approved by the voters in my city. The consultants convinced the City to call it the "Active Adult Center" but it IS an age-restricted center (50+) so AAC doesn't really describe what it is (an active adult could be a 22 y.o.).

12:39:32     From  Donna Powell : Intergenerational connections are critical in these times!

12:40:02     From  Karen Brutsche   to   All panelists : The idea at RCC is that we shouldn't segregate ages. WE all benefit from each others wisdom and energy.

12:43:01     From  Elva Roy : I look forward to buying Martha's book after this call!

12:43:48     From  steve gurney : Here is the link to Martha's book https://www.amazon.com/Made-Manipulates-Consumers-Insecurities-Unattainable/dp/1538138042

12:44:31     From  Donna Powell : As we learned yesterday from Old School, ageism can be a problem that's based on privilege. Can Martha comment on what's apparently mostly white women being ageism activists? 

12:55:20     From  Georgeanna Tryban   to   All panelists : There has been the counter-term, “Silver Fox”

12:55:44     From  Stephanie Moore : Our society needs to normalize the FACT that many women are their most beautiful in their 40's and 50's now. We also typically have more spending power too so they need to better cater to us. I don't want to look 20 anymore anyway.