115 JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE RESEARCH IN ANTHROPOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY Copyright © The Author, 2017 Volume 8, Number 2, Winter 2017 ISSN 2068 – 0317 http://compaso.eu From sick elderly to super-grandparents. A typology of elderly representations in Romanian video advertising Simona-Nicoleta Vulpe 1 Abstract The aim of this paper was to study the elderly representations in Romanian video advertising in order to identify a typology corresponding to these representations. The research method that I used was the content analysis with a dominant qualitative approach, but also including quantification elements. The commercials that I selected for my analysis promoted health products, banking and insurances and fast moving consumersǯ goods ȋFMCGȌ. The identified typology is composed of five types of elderly representations: Super-Grandparents, Seclusive Elderly, Sick Elderly, Funny Elderly, and High-Tech Elderly. The representation types and their stereotypical content varied depending on the type of product/service that was promoted and on the public addressed by commercials. Keywords Elderly, commercials, advertising, representations, typology Introduction Video advertising and the representations they create for various social categories constitute a research topic frequently approached by social scientists. Advertising that portrays the elderly is a particular category because it perpetuates images and representations of a growing age group, given the aging population phenomenon. The study of older people’s representations in video advertising is relevant for understanding the social construction of age and the experience of aging itself. It is also relevant for understanding the perceptions we have towards the elderly, the power relations that 1 Faculty of Sociology and Social Work, University of Bucharest, Romania, mona.vulpe@gmail.com