Your Mum And Dad Are Influencers Now, Too

You may never have heard of Aki and Koichi, but this sartorial couple in their 70s from California are a hit on social media. They are part of a wave of influencers who are going viral in their 50s, 60s and beyond.

After years of boomer-bashing, it’s the ultimate flex. From fashion to beauty to fitness and lifestyle, the rise of the silver content creator is sending a powerful message: Age is no barrier to having cachet.

These trendsetters are a much-needed counterpoint to the youth-obsessed, anti-aging culture whose overriding narrative has been that our worth diminishes with every passing year.

They are not only a potent spending force, due to the substantial net worth they’ve accumulated (Australia’s roughly $3 trillion pension pool is on track to become the second largest in the world), but are helping redefine what we associate with aging. With graduates finding it harder to get a job, perhaps it’s no surprise that after a long time of catering to Gen Z and millennials, brands are courting mature-age and retired digital creators with money in their pockets and huge online followers.

But more importantly, this phenomenon is providing an avenue for women — who continue to face gendered discrimination in employment (it’s extraordinary that we’re even debating whether they’ve ruined the workplace) — to reclaim their voice and visibility. That’s become urgent with the advent of AI. A recent study published in Nature found that large language models are perpetuating and intensifying harmful stereotypes about older women already pervasive online.

Many of these newly minted Internet personalities are relatable. They might exude sass and confidence, as well as the savviness to parlay their passions into compelling content, but their backgrounds are decidedly normal: Before becoming online sensations, Aki and Koichi, who are grandparents, had careers in education and medicine; there are trained microbiologists and accountants. One of my favorite accounts on Instagram is Sciuraglam, which celebrates Milan’s glamorous older women just going about their day (mostly shopping, lunching and standing around chatting).

The trend was also on display at Paris Fashion Week, with celebrities including Helen Mirren (80), Jane Fonda (88), and Laura Dern (58) appearing on the catwalk.

This might all seem superficial — it will take more than a bunch of influencers to dismantle unconscious bias in the workplace that limits women’s career progression. But let’s not be too quick to dismiss the impact of the simple act of showing off daily outfits on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. As populations age and people delay retirement, these third-age influencers are restoring some relevance and legitimacy to age groups sidelined in many professions. And it signals to those born after 1980 that shaping tastes, sparking trends and driving product interest online doesn’t have to fizzle out as the years pass; you can continue to have digital clout for decades to come.

Jane Evans, an advertising executive and entrepreneur in her 60s, has been campaigning for years to bring visibility back to middle-aged women, frustrated by her own experience of trying to get a job after a hiatus. “I went to see a creative director and he was like ‘Jane, I’d give you a job, but you would end up at the back of the department doing the s--t that nobody else wants.’ The ageism was to my face,” Evans said on the Power of Women podcast. (Lately, Evans and Cindy Gallop, an advertising veteran and outspoken advocate for gender equality in business, have taken on the LinkedIn algorithm, urging females to change their profile gender to male, after they noticed that men consistently received greater engagement with fewer followers.)

Evans also co-authored a book — Invisible to Invaluable: Unleashing the Power of Midlife Women — that describes the stages of a woman’s life as little girl; troubled teenager; sex object; career woman; mum; old woman waiting to die. “We are taught to fear the passage of time, not celebrate it,” the authors wrote.

The latest crop of influencers are doing just that, despite the online hate and misogyny they experience. Supermodel Paulina Porizkova, 60, who has become an outspoken advocate for aging authentically, has been open about the abuse she has received. Some just become disenchanted when social media commodifies them. Lyn Slater, who became widely known as the Accidental Icon, went viral about 10 years ago in her 60s, when “the word influencer wasn’t used.” After the pandemic, the former professor of social welfare reassessed her life, stopped doing sponsored posts on Instagram (@iconaccidental) and now has a Substack documenting her reinvention.

Like youth, trends are fleeting and never more so than in the digital age. Some you are glad when they are over — and yes, this one might also fade away. But for now, it’s worth basking in its moment as we roll into a new year, and another, and another…