Implicit Attitudes Toward Ageing: A Case of Funeral Advertisements in the Ghanaian Print Media

Through the agency of the media, individuals within a community absorb impressions, images, ideas and sounds that mirror society’s attitude towards old age. The study explored implicit attitudes towards old age in the print media as depicted in funeral advertisements in Ghana. Data was gathered from print advertisements (funeral announcements from the Daily Graphic) for two (2) years. The research studied only funeral announcements that displayed the age (60 years upwards) at which a person died and captured the picture of the dead person depicted on the funeral announcement poster (either at a later stage of their lives, younger age or both). A content analysis revealed some major themes; Celebration of life, Celebration of profession, Celebration of achievement, Blessing and other sub-themes. Although these themes suggest a positive attitude towards old age, it was however observed that some of the pictures used in the advertisements were those taken at an earlier stage in the life of the dead person. Results are discussed with reference to relevant theories and related studies.