Commonly used in the beauty world, I have long maintained that the expression ‘anti-ageing’ is ageist. It implies there’s something wrong with ageing.

Imagine if skin-whitening treatments were positioned on an ‘anti-black’ platform!

Now there are signs that the anti-ageing term is losing popularity.

According to this article in Elle, Google reported that last year none of the UK’s most-searched skincare questions featured the term ‘anti-ageing’. In fact, market-research company Mintel reported that the US market for facial anti-ageing products has been declining for five years.

Even among the so-called ‘Millennials’, anti-ageing is less of a trigger term because, according to a research source ‘Women are growing more self-assured in general and are becoming less anxious about the signs of ageing.’

Hooray! The beauty industry acknowledging that there are benefits to ageing (apart from deeper pockets).

But, whether in consumer land or in the workplace, ageism is a two-way street. Older people must reject ageism, positively. For example, this article in Adweek magazine talks about a 60 year-old creative guy who uses an enlightened attitude to secure a job of his choosing in advertising – a notoriously ageist industry.

‘It takes two to tango’ our way past ageist marketing and employment thinking.