Originally, the word ’senior’ referred to the most experienced soldiers in the Roman legions. Over time, the term evolved differently in different countries.

It became simply ‘Mr’ in Spanish and Italian, but ’seigneur’ (lord) in French. As for English, it undoubtedly remained the most faithful to the original Latin, maintaining the idea of ‘maturity’ and ‘expertise’. And in the fashionable professions these days, the word ’senior’ is one of the essential buzzwords: Senior Account Executive, Senior Brand Manager … Senior Vice President! What wonderful connotations…  Today, the word “senior” is mainly used to refer to the over-50s. Why so young? It would be so reassuring to tie it in with the notion of retirement. Or better still, to old people’s homes (often renamed seigneuries in French). But we could also ask ‘Why so old?’ After all, great sportsmen often retire at 30. 

There are a number of objective reasons for this: 

First of all, for marketing people, 50 marks the death of the consumer. When we’re talking about the general public, don’t we always refer to the ‘under-50 housewife’? A horrible male chauvinist expression, to which our Anglo-Saxon neighbours prefer the highly technical label ‘principal person responsible for purchasing, aged 18 to 49′.  

Then, for the various population experts, there is a succession of important events that occur around the age of 50 and which plainly change people’s lives. At 49, on average, women become grandmothers for the first time. Three years later, in general, they’re in the throes of the menopause and are telling their husbands it’s high time to stop smoking and to watch their diet. At fifty, the main mortgage is paid off, and at 52 their youngest children leave the nest. A few years later, their own parents will die. This sad news will often result in a sizeable inheritance (at 57, on average).  Over and above the strange terms used in marketing, then, everything clearly leads us to see 50 as a turning point – one that it is convenient to take as a starting point for a so-called ’seniors marketing’ strategy.