Ageism is the most widespread form of discrimination. Ageism affects people of all ages, but it can be most damaging for those in older age.

The Centre for Ageing Better (Ageing Better) is an independent charitable foundation, which aims to tackle inequalities in ageing. It is launching a new campaign to tackle ageism and challenge negative stereotypes about what it means to be ‘old’.

To help them design their new campaign, Basis Social ran a multi-phase research project. First, we spoke to older people about their attitudes and experiences of ageism through focus groups. This was supported by a semiotics exercise, which allowed us to identify some of the unconscious root causes behind ageism that exist in society. We then conducted a nationally representative survey with over 2,000 members of the general public, to get at wider views about ageing. From this we ran a segmentation analysis. This allowed us to group different segments of the population based on their responses. We could then target follow-up research (via in-depth interviews) with members of the public who belonged to those segments that a campaign could most effectively target.

To help ensure our research was designed as well as it could be, we engaged with a small Lived Experience Advisory Group, made up of members of the public aged 50 and over. We also shared findings and gathered feedback through 3 interactive sessions with members of the UK Network of Age-friendly Communities. This is a growing national movement affiliated to the World Health Organisation’s Global Network for Age-friendly Cities and Communities.

Our work has gone on to inform Ageing Better’s new campaign - https://www.agewithoutlimits.org/