Implication of “The Cougar”
Just saw the ad for TV Land’s “The Cougar.”
Yes, the show is TOTALLY ludicrous.
And, yes, I TOTALLY DVR’d it.
(By now you know I have to at least check the debacle out. But that’s not the point here.)
Ok, back to “The Cougar.”
Wow. That chica is not bad looking.
Meet Stacey, Resident Cougar.
Quite frankly she blows the paradigm of what a working single mom of four (!) should look like. She’s sure as HELL ain’t no Mrs. Robinson folks, and when she was “Mrs. Robinson,” Anne Bancroft was 36 years old…. really! Honest. You can follow her adventures on TVLand and on Twitter.
Fabulous Anne Bancroft, at 36, is the original "Cougar" as Mrs. Robinson.
Then I see Valerie Bertinelli’s latest Jenny Craig commercial trotting around in a bikini. Not bad for the first time in 30 years? Try not bad for being in your 20′s. Val’s bangin’ at 48.
Valerie Bertinelli's Bikini Cover Bod, not bad for 48!
We’ve heard about “the cougar.” It conjures up images of preying man-eater while the younger girl “kitten” seem more innocent, something to coo at. I see it as a salacious or smarmy way to describe experience and age. Sure some women are cougars, that’s just inherent personality (and believe me there are some 20 year old cougars out there,) but what what have here are some fantastic, sexy women who are looking fabulous way past the expected point of no return. It’s a cultural paradigm shift, I mean really, for example, do you think Anne’s 36 is over-the-hill middle age anymore?
Not that at 45 you’re suppose to start wearing a babushka, nor should you be wearing Daisy Dukes. But people in general are not only living longer but aging better. Your current 49 year old can now look better than the 36 year old 4 decades ago.
Now we come to the marketing to these women. And really the point of my whole post, besides a serious “Atta Girl” to Both Valerie and Stacey for raising the bar on looking fab.
Does this change how we think of the classic ad demo of 18-34 or 18-49? How we design ad campaigns, design products. Is there opportunity here? Or, conversely, are we missing opportunities now?
Quite possibly.
3 Responses to “Implication of “The Cougar””
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Herds three kids through life. Mainlines all things media, including questionable TV. SCUBA diver that longs to hang-ten.
As someone in the Cougar Demographic, and sort of aging backwards, if you will, LOL I can say there are definately companies that are missing the boat. The most obvious is swimwear companies. Most of our choices are either teeny weeny bikinis or matronly monstrosities.
To give examples of catalogs that everybody gets–Another classic example would be your Lands End type companies who are making their clothing too baggy,shapeless and bulky to fit out svelte figures. J Crew seems to get it by throwing in Lauren Hutton to model every so often, but really they need somebody in their 40′s too. Boden definately gets it, and it should as the owner is in his 40s.
As for me, I design jewelry and am sometimes surprised at the choices women in my age group make. Often I’ll design something I thought would go to a twenty something only to find the 40-50′s are snapping it up and it looks great on them.
So , yes I think many companies are missing opportunities.
All I can do is try not to be one of them! : )
By the way, you look MAHvelous!
Interesting post. I’ve always thought age was a state of mind and soul, not body, until I learned The Cougar was ONLY 40 and then I called her a name I won’t use on your blog
In reality, when I think back to the demographics of 18 – 34 just 30 years ago, that age group was well on their way to raising families. Done and over by 25 years old. Grandmothers were only in their mid to late 40′s in most cases. Pretty amazing.
With societal shifts (in most parts of the country) to a generation waiting longer to start families and get married, we can’t help but see a change in purchasing behaviors. And retailers should be embracing that, SOON, if not already. At 40, why would I act like a woman about to be a Grandmother when my 4 year old son keeps me so young? By my husband’s age (47), my Mother had a daughter graduating college. Our daughter is graduating kindergarten!
Sure, it must great to have the figure of a 25 year old at 40+, but at the end of the day, I still think it’s a state of mind – and mine is PRETTY YOUNG!
Agreed.
State of mind translates into everything: what we do, how we act, how we look and what we buy. The body is just one manifestation (and a very visible one- great for illustrative purposes, since you can’t turn the TV on and not see a Jenny Craig commercial- but you also have 40+ triathletes/surfers) As a chica closer to 40 than 30, I think women in their 40′s don’t feel like women in their 40′s did, say, 40 years ago.
Designers, marketers, entrepreneurs, retailers need to realize that.