Star Tribune Article Features Ecumen’s Efforts To Change the Language of Aging

So much of the terminology around growing old carries negative connotations, and Baby Boomers are pushing back with a “war on words.”  Star Tribune reporter Jackie Crosby examines how the huge economic power of older adults is making marketers take greater care in how they characterize aging.

Crosby’s story begins with Ecumen CEO Katherine Roberts candidly discussing the difficulty of purging the offensive words – because changing the words is really about changing culture.

Older adults, Roberts says, are “the last group or class of citizens in this country that we say it’s OK to institutionalize and it’s OK to marginalize — in advertisements, movies and popular culture.”