Dugan 1

Casey Dugan
Dr. McLaughlin
Writing and Rhetoric 13300 12:30-1:45
3 April 2015
Old People with Cell Phones (Not an Oxymoron)
Shopping with my Grandmother, we walk up and down the line of cell phone as I stop to
point out all the cool new features on the phones. I stop in front of the iPhone and tell my
Grandma, This is the one. The sales representative comes over and asks if I am looking for a
new phone. When he realizes my Grandmother is the buyer, he brings us over to some simpler,
basic phones. My Grandma looks and is not enthralled by any of her choices, but this is what was
recommended by the professional. Those crazy new devices are just for you kids, she says, and
after deciding upon the flip phone with limited buttons, we leave the store. Months later when
my Grandma watched me video-chatting my cousin on Face-Time while she is away at college,
she got angry that we never video-chat with her. Our response, in sync, is to question her about
what device she would use to Face-Time. Had she gotten the iPhone I told her to buy everyone
in the family could call her and she could see us even when she was miles away. For Christmas I
finally got my Grandmother the iPhone I knew she needed. Despite what society thought of the
seniors and smart phones, my Grandmother learned how to Face-Time and keep in touch with
her family and the technological advancements.
We live in a consumer driven world. If there is a market for a product and people are
willing to buy, there is certainly a company willing to fill that need. That said there is a gap in the
market that no company wants to take a risk to fill. The older consumer is a viable market that
has purchasing power to support a market, but when it comes to technology they are being

Dugan 2
ignored. Cell phone companies, in particular, age discriminate with their product advertising.
They narrow their markets by targeting only specific consumers (usually the younger
demographics) limiting both the opportunities of the company and the consumer. Cell phones are
a part of our everyday life. They connect friends, families, and co-workers. Companies that
refuse to incorporate the older points of view into their products leave the older generations of
society out the tech age. The valuable older consumer demographic needs not to be ignored by
large corporations and need to be indoctrinated into the technological age. Technological
companies need to change their advertising techniques to be more inclusive of different
demographics. These companies like Apple and Samsung do not have to take a risk to expand
their market because older demographics are not a risk at all with their immense purchasing
power and consumer capability. Companies should expand their markets and open up their
products to older demographics through advertisement campaigns.
Currently cell phones are a major part of everyday life. In some cases they have even
replaced standard landline in homes. Today 90% of adults have a cell phone and 58% have a
smart phone ("Mobile Technology Fact Sheet"). The mobile phone and smart phone market is
worth $341.4 billion globally ("Mobile Phone & Smartphone Market). Samsung [is] the global
smart phone leader with a 25.2% share of the market followed by Apple with 11.9 %(Olson)
which is different from United States market shares in which Apple has a stronghold on the
consumer market. Cell phones are used for social media, to take pictures, to take notes, to watch
television, to check the time, to text and to make calls. There are endless uses augmented by the
endless number of apps available for smart phones, which are growing in number by the day.
There are many current advertising campaigns that are trying to sell a varied of cell
phones. There are some advertisements that focus on college students, like Verizons focus on

Dugan 3
their exceptional coverage for college students moving around the country. There is also an
iconic AT&T advertisement with a mom asking her daughter who she had been texting so much
and the girls responds with IDK my BFF Jill? One thing that is apparent in all of these
commercials is that seniors are absent. They are an invisible consumer. Companies create
campaigns that focus on several demographics while disregarding the seniors because companies
do not see the potential value in what the senior consumer may bring to the market. Another
current advertisement has children sitting around a middle-aged man asking questions and
getting humorous responses. Again companies focus on children, a consumer who cannot even
afford their products. However, the seniors who do have the expendable income to afford the
purchase of a smart phone are ignored based on the stereotype of being incapable and unwilling
to adapt to current technology.
The problem with this growing market is they are ignoring the older demographic.
Seniors are a widely forgotten market that is either ignored or insulted with the products that are
created for their personal use. One such product is Vodaphones cell phone for seniors. This cell
phone with no camera, no browser and hardly any icons (Pringle 3) is insulting to an older
consumer, discounting their intelligence and their ability to learn new things. This phone
diminishes the cognitive ability of the older consumer and demeans their place in the market.
Marketing towards older consumers should not be directed towards only simplified products with
large buttons. David Pringle, of the Wall Street Journal asserts, These consumersweren't
interested in the cameras, Internet browsers and many of the other features that are becoming
standard on the latest cell phones and just want the basics in case of an emergency. However
there are a multitude of seniors who want to use technology to keep in touch with family and
grandchildren. My Grandma shopping for her new phone demonstrates how the sales

Dugan 4
representatives s try to talk seniors out of smart phones, possibly to avoid aggravation for both
the consumer and customer service. Its not that older generations are incapable of using new
technology and they do not want to use it, rather companies just do not make an effort to incite
change. Companies do not think the time and effort marketing to seniors will result in a
profitable return.
Today while watching television, one can view multiple commercials for cell phone
manufactures, providers, and accessories. In almost every one of these commercials one can see
young people, sometimes middle aged, but rarely a senior. There is a stereotype in our society
that elderly people are anti-technology and have no idea how to use it, but that is simply wrong.
Commercials augment this stereotype. For example in one tablet commercial, everything a
daughter tells her father about his tablet goes right over his head and he needs extra attention to
figure out even the simple things. This is an exaggeration for the lack of skill in the senior.
Majority of cell phone commercials are either directed towards teenagers, or young and middleaged adults. There are few commercials that are designed to appealing to the older demographic,
although many of them use cell phones and would like to be exposed to the new products and
services. Six out of ten seniors regularly use Internet access after being exposed and 74% of
seniors 65 and older use a cell phone, but only 19% have a smart phone ("Older Adults and
Technology Use"). The 19% is a statistic that can be exploited with an attempt to convert the
other 55% of cell phone users to smart phone users. By buying the more expensive phone with
Internet access and applications, the cell phone manufacturers and providers would increase their
net profit and the seniors would be better connected to their family and the world. The only
significant discrimination comes from the age disparity, as gender and economic status are
usually not a factor. The research from 2001 indicates that the largest users of cell phones at that

Dugan 5
time were ages 31-45. This demographic today in 2015 can be nearly 60 years old, which causes
one to wonder why, are cell phone companies, ignoring the group that used to be their largest
consumer (Solomon 1). It can possibly be old stereotypes are clouding their goals, like the
assumptions produced by Pringle.
The lack of options and awareness of cell phones when it comes to seniors needs to
change in the near future. According Catherine Cole to Both socio-emotional information
relevant to ones well-being and meaningful financial information can motivate older adults to
deploy cognitive resources flexibly and perform equivalently to younger adults(558) meaning
that the divide between young and old is narrowing. As the cognitive gap lessens old people
become a more viable age group to target products with as they have the financial means and
incentive to buy. Seniors are aware of their age-related labels (Wolf 914) and they are less
likely buy products when their label in the market is negative. This is the case when it comes to
cell phones. People are still shocked when grandparents are using iPads, or they use an iPhone to
take a picture. However, this is nothing new. There is just a stereotype in the market and with
consumers that ignores the capabilities of seniors. Baby boomers, that are now the older
consumers were once at the forefront of technology and can continue to be today if the
companies like Apple and Samsung would focus some marketing strength on seniors rather than
young consumers (Smith 151). Currently Apple and Samsung market to the young generation of
consumers even if they arent the one purchasing the products but their parents are.
Some people could say that in order to change the perception of the market, companies
like Apple and Samsung can possibly create new products geared towards seniors but not quite
as insulting as Vodaphones senior cell phone. They could create new products with enhanced
features like enlarged icons for vision-impaired customers, and voice enhancement software with

Dugan 6
louder clearer sounds for the hearing impaired customers. However, these products would have a
narrowly defined market that would hinder possibly profits. Niche markets are difficult to excel
in if the market is too small to sustain customized products. Specially designing products for
older people can alienate them from the rest of the market and leave them not wanting to
purchase products that designate them with the label old.
Some people may think that the current market is fine. The Vodaphone senior cell phone
is what seniors need to use to deal with their impairments. These same people may assert that
their no incentive for companies to expand the market as it is already a billion dollar enterprise.
The way the market is currently is the way it should stay and the market is saturated enough to
sustain itself without any expansion of the market. However there are immense risks in trying to
make assumptions about the needs and limitations of a population. The senior market is as
diverse a market as any other. By assuming the population limited across the board companies
are alienating the seniors with no impairments. Seniors with no impairments are not going to buy
products that label them as old or give them accommodations that become hindrances when
unneeded. Therefore they are not going to buy these products. Additionally they are not going to
buy products from companies that negatively stigmatize their entire population as unable to
functionally use technology. The senior population has a value in the cell phone market that far
exceeds the way they are currently being used. By not making any changes and not recognizing
the problem companies are risking future profits, the satisfaction of their customs and many
future consumers.
The way that cell phone manufacturers can maximize profits and open up their customer
base is by altering their advertising techniques for their current product lines. Multiple
advertising campaigns for the same product can help diversify its target consumers. Verizon

Dugan 7
Wireless has products for seniors with a 3-inch color displayoversized number keys and an
exterior LED display that provides the time of day, missed calls, pending messages and caller ID
at a glanceto address hearing loss in our aging population, the LG Exalt comes with a Voice
Clarity Mode to provide hearing assistance and enhanced sound quality. It also supports text-tospeech technology to read text messages aloudideal for convenient, hands-free
communication("Plans and Phones for Seniors"). Rather than following Verizon and touting a
flip phone as revolutionary for seniors, Apple, Samsung and cell phone providers can market
phone with large screens to older consumers. The iPhone 6 Plus has a 5.5-inch high definition
display and the Samsung Galaxy has a 5.1-inch high definition display. Both contain features to
enlarge the size of icons and text for the visually impaired and text to speech software with
technology to read out icons on the screen. These phones can continue to be marketed towards
younger consumer, however older consumers can take advantage of the same features senior
phones claim to have in a more technologically advanced phone. Just because older consumers
may need special applications does not mean they need specific products, rather they need to be
taught how to exploit the same features on the same phones. Companies can expand their market
with their same products by just advertising different features that might be appealing to older
consumers. Adding old consumers into television commercials would also help for older
consumers to identify with the products and help to distance their products from the negative
labels associated with seniors and cell phones.
Ethically, as well, companies should not be able to discount a part of the market based on
age and preconceived stereotypes. It is not fair for companies to discriminate against a group of
people based on a physical characteristic. If a company were to discriminate based on gender or

Dugan 8
race, it would not be tolerated in the market place and therefore age discrimination should not be
acceptable either.
The marginal cost for companies to begin new advertising campaigns is completely
outweighed by the social and private benefit. The revenue companies would receive from more
seniors buying more expensive smart phones like iPhone and Samsung Galaxy would outweigh
the increased costs of an advertising campaign. In the United States there are 8.5 million seniors
over the age of 65 ("Older Adults and Technology Use"). Since 55% of current seniors who have
cell phones that are not smart phones there are 4.675 million people that can be converted. If the
price increase is on average $100 per senior, companies can expect $467, 500, 00 increases in
profits in the market, which is hundreds of millions more than the average advertising campaign.
Also this figure is excluding the share of the market that does not own any cell phone at all. This
solution also removes any costs from trying to develop new products since it is the current
product line that is being re-imagined and re-branded to suit the needs of older consumers. Many
phones in the market already fit the needs of the older consumer it is just these features need to
be pointed out.
Feasibly companies can partake in attracting senior customers to their products with little
to no risk. The possible reward far out-weighs the risk companies would have to take to create a
new advertising campaign. By remarketing their current products they are reducing selling cost
(Derrick 1). The way to expand market share and profits while reducing cost is to win over a
larger share of the market with the good you already offer (Derrick 4). This is what cell phone
companies would be doing if they rebranded their product to fit a larger consumer market
including seniors. Illustrating the tools and benefits that current phones in the market would
allow seniors to feel like technology is for them and companies believe that they have the ability

Dugan 9
to functionally use a smart phone. The way to open up the market is to make seniors feel
included, like the product has a place in their lives and they can and should be using it. When
they feel included they will be more likely to purchase, as their age-related label (Wolf) in the
market will have shifted to have a more positive connotation.
Discrimination is something that happens every day. Sometimes we see it, and sometimes
its relegated to the norm and it remains unseen. The lack of attention to seniors when it comes to
cell phone-marketing techniques is an unseen, unnoticed discrimination that demands to be
changed. As the world evolves and becomes interconnected, seniors should not be left out. My
Grandma has now been brought into the technological age and has never looked back at her flip
phone. We can Face-Time and text. She is evidence that seniors have the ability to use smart
phones and connect to the world. If my Grandmother, the woman who purchased a flip phone in
2013, can be turned onto and begin to love an iPhone I am sure that many other seniors can and
would love to do the same. People should stop being so shocked for when they find grandparents
using iPhones and tablets and hopefully overtime this will become a more common occurrence.
There is nothing wrong with a flip phone for seniors, but there is also nothing wrong with an
iPhone either. It is all about options.

Dugan 10
Work Cited
Cole, Catherine, et al. "Decision Making and Brand Choice by Older Consumers." Marketing
Letters 19.3/4, Seventh Tri-Annual Choice Symposium (2008): 355-65.
Derrick, Paul E. How to Reduce Selling Costs,. Garden City, New York, Doubleday, Page &
company, 1919: 1-6.
"Mobile Phone & Smartphone Market Worth $341.4 Billion By 2015 New Re." PRWeb.
Vocus PRW Holdings, 13 Oct. 2013. Web
"Mobile Technology Fact Sheet." Pew Research Centers Internet American Life Project RSS.
Pew Research Center, 27 Dec. 2013. Web.
"Older Adults and Technology Use." Pew Research Centers Internet American Life Project
RSS. Pew Research Center, 3 Apr. 2014. Web.
Olson, Parmy. "China's Xiaomi Becomes World's 5th Largest Smartphone Maker." Forbes.
Forbes Magazine, 31 July 2014. Web.
"Plans and Phones for Seniors." Mobile Living by Verizon Wireless. Verizon Wireless, 22 Aug.
2013. Web.
Pringle, David. Softer Cell: In Mobile Phones, Older Users Say, More is Less; all the Features
just Confuse, they Tell Vodafone, so it Tries Making a Simple One; Pushback from
Young Staffers, Wall Street Journal. (2005).
Smith, Ruth B. Marketing to the Older Consumer, Journal of Marketing 57.4 (1993): 151-2.
Solomon, Doug. "Cell Phone Gender Gap to Narrow in U.S.; Age Research Fuels Marketing
Strategies." Wireless Insider 19.25 (2001): 1.

Dugan 11
Wolf, Friedemann, Philipp Sandner, and Isabell M. Welpe. "Why do Responses to Age-Based
Marketing Stimuli Differ? the Influence of Retirees? Group Identification and
Changing Consumption Patterns." Psychology & Marketing 31.10 (2014): 914-31.

Casey,
current cell phone marketing campaigns (either broadcast or print) look like. That will help to
illustrate the way these technologies are pitched in a way that privileges certain consumers over
others and how appealing to some of the values of seniors without approaching them as a
homogenous group could generate a greater sense of consumer satisfaction AND profit for the
companies in question. One of your counterarguments is pretty good, but the one about the
current market being fine is pretty weakyoure already demonstrating that its NOT okay, so
focus instead on some of the risks involved with trying to make assumptions about the needs and
limitations and values of this population. Overall, this is an excellent startway to go!
Best,
Dr. E