The why & purpose of See The Person Not The Stereotype

The jingle ‘It’s Time’ from Gough Whitlam’s famous 1972 election campaign says it all.   The song’s lyrics said:

‘it’s time for freedom, time to give, time for improving, time to come together, time to look ahead, time for moving’.

And whilst the jingle was 52 years ago, it’s   worth also noting that   Cold Chisel launched the following year in 1973.  And we all know just how amazing and relevant Jimmy Barnes is still today

So I could not think of a better reflection song as I launched my awareness campaign See ‘See the Person Not the Stereotype’

For many years I have been a vocal voice in media and LinkedIn to tackle age discrimination, ageism and stereotyping.   And it was time to do something very different to smash it differently. As frankly nothing much has shifted over the years. 

Age discrimination is not just a professional focus for me but a personal one that I gleaned back in the same year of the Whitlam election.  In that year, 1972 my father at 47yo lost his executive job of which he was a global pioneer in his field. 

I recall with such vivid memories the discussions that he was being discriminated against due to his age. It took him over 2 years to find a similar role and in that interim I watched finances and esteem plummet. Mum returned to work and they eventually had to sell cladding door to door before Dad got back into his engineering executive saddle.

Then over the last 20 years from when I launched my media recruitment agency (2004 – 2015) and the last 9 years in career and job search strategy I have batted and navigated age discrimination and stereotypes at every turn.    I’ve grown tired of a lack of change despite all the research, advocacy groups and legislations against discrimination.

I also abhor stereotyping and judgements based on any ism including race and gender.  It’s just dumb to assume blanket homogenous beliefs towards any group.

Starting See The Person Not The Stereotype

Leading up to Ageism Awareness Day this year I ran a LinkedIn Poll asking if age discrimination has changed over the last five years.  51% said it had gotten worse; 38% said it remained the same and a surprising 11% felt it had improved.  

From issues, reports and other (lack of) attention to Ageism Awareness Day I wrote a heated and exasperated opinion piece for Mumbrella What the f*ck will it take for ageism to end? 

Then a few days later I saw a montage of famous USA women 50+ from California women’s focussed creative agency GraceCreativeLA as their ode to International Women’s Day.  A light bulb went on and the concept struck a chord. 

Could a creative visual and ownership of value approach be the start of the solution?  Could it be the springboard to show and demonstrate that people over 50 were not all the same?

So I launched a women’s 50+ campaign call out on LinkedIn that went viral with so many jumping on board.  I knew I was onto something and felt that, in the song from Deborah Conway it was ‘Only the Beginning’

I knew it was the litmus to launch the brand and tagline I had been holding onto for over 10 years ‘See the person not the stereotype’.   It was time to take a montage concept, by branded tagline and 20 years of recruitment and career work and go bold, hard and creative. 

It was more than just visual but a movement and awareness campaign that would take across media, engagement, training, Australian key voices and more.

What the campaign is about

The core message is of  the See The Person Not The Stereotype campaign is: ‘Shining a light on the darkness of age discrimination and stereotypes’ 

 

Secondary is that it’s  time to smash the illogical & harmful stereotypes that impact business, recruitment & workplaces. 

Whilst I first launched a campaign for women 50+  (Ok I thought it was an easier one to capture which it was). It’s for BOTH men and women 50+.

I will run and publish a men’s 50+ montage engagement.  Thereafter a combined campaign and further campaigns and developments are being planned.

The campaign is about demonstrating and engaging versus telling and argument.  It’s about taking a fresh creative approach to a pervasive issue that causes so much harm. 

I’m absolutely convinced the way forward is to tackle the elephant in the room with broad engagement, visual creativity and demonstration.

Hiding your age fuels fear and shame whilst also keeping stereotypes alive. Moving past age bias and prejudice needs us to embrace our age and step up and stand out with it.

It needs us to show the world that the stereotypes of women and men over 50 are not homogeneous and are nonsense.  No age group or gender is the same.  Images and diverse representations matters.

Not every woman looks, acts, feels the same and it’s foolish and limiting to assume they do. Viva la difference!  Showing up and representing all the wonderful wide differences in appearances and choices flips the switch in media, advertising and workplaces.

Media support

It has been terrific to have media outlets supporting the movement and the first women’s campaign roll out.

It has been already featured in Women’s Agenda, Accounting Times, LinkedIn News Australia and Mumbrella. 

Going forward

There is so much in the planning wings for 2025.  It will be a case of stay tuned.  I cannot thank enough so many people who have offered incredible support and voices and courageously joined in.  A big thanks to Dr Natasha Ginnivan, one of Australia’s leading researchers on attitudes to ageing.   Her blog Mobilising Wisdom  is a wonderful collection of interviews, research and more on ageing. 

And I’m so grateful for all the courageous and wonderful men and women who have jumped on board, shared their age and waved the flag for their value.

As I mentioned above quoting Deborah Conway (as you will gather I’m a bit of a song and music fan) it’s only the beginning.

I opened the newsletter with a song, so I will end it with another which encapsulates the message and my heartfelt hopes for this campaign from Gloria Estefan – Coming Out Of the Dark

 

 

Read more about the campaign HERE