Does your fear of aging pay Martha Stewart's bills?

(No. 89) Yes. Let's be realists, by Stephen P. Williams

It’s a good thing. Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

Martha Stewart is, roughly, 80 years old. For five years back in the 90s I contributed many articles to her eponymous magazine. I went to her lovely house in Connecticut to write about the felt pads she put under her furniture legs. I wrote about the roses at one of her East Hampton, New York homes. I described the ultra-quiet kitchen appliances at another East Hampton home. I witnessed her barge into an editorial meeting to proclaim convincingly that brass sconces were the future of something — I can’t remember what. She looked good, always. At an employee clambake in the Hamptons I got excited when I saw her approaching me. She asked who I was. I told her. She turned and walked away without another word.

Clearly, we were not close. Yet, I always respected what seemed to be her heartfelt passion for doing things right, which meant doing things well. Every project she published seemed achievable, if not necessarily something you’d really spend time doing. Which is why I’m so puzzled — silly me — about her foray into pushing wildly expensive anti-aging potions.

@marthastewart#ad My recipe for hydrated skin with @cledepeaubeauteus is 🤌 #ad #cledepeaubeaute

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Martha Stewart says she has never had a facelift. I can attest that she’s a remarkable human, but no 80 year old can look so smooth without a little help, like Botox or fillers. Yet, she’s pushing a dubious cream (all anti-aging creams are dubious) called Cli de Peau SYNACTIF NECK & DÉCOLLETÉ CREAM, which the company says “Visibly firms & lifts skin with advanced retinol.” Only $435 for a little pot of the stuff.

The campaign targets Gen Z people on TikTok, and many tens of millions have watched her ads, according to a New York Times article titled Martha Stewart Welcomes you to Generation Ageless. Encouraging Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) consumers to worry about the state of their aging faces could be very profitable — if unethical.

(I know many people believe that anything that makes money is justified. I don’t. I think all frivolous products are bad for the universe.)

I was struck by this quote in the New York Times article: “That’s the salient thing,” said Kimberly Macleod, 54, the head of Kmacconnect, a strategic communications firm in New York. “She’s a supreme capitalist — absolutely a sellout. But she’s also indomitable, a force to be reckoned with.”

How much of our lives are we willing to spend in the thrall of people who encourage and exploit our fears of being who we are (aging people)? I like to be healthy. I like to move as well as possible. But I’m not interested in deep-faking my aging body. Not that any of these creams will accomplish that anyway.

Which raises the question: why would old people like Martha Stewart encourage young people to be afraid of looking old? Why would old people suggest that the best way to adapt to the reality of aging is to make yourself look younger? It’s a self-reinforcing misery loop: get old, hate the way you look, encourage younger people to fear the way you look, keep getting older and hate it more. And on and on until? Well, the undertaker has good makeup.

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I introduce a 73-three year old super-tan muscle man who is admirably full of life. (Let’s pretend we are in high school and rate his hairline, which we can’t see because of the hat.)

@whatdoyouthinktiktokEat right, think right, live right… and move! #motivation #getfit #eathealthy #loseweight #whatdoyouthinkvideos

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Eat less, in less time so that you can live (and be hungry) longer

Shall I compare thee to a mouse? When in eternal treadmills to time thou grow'st: So long as mice can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. — adapted for the modern age from The Bard.

The science of aging includes lots of mice studies that we might extrapolate to human lives. Might is the operative word. None of this is certain. But numerous studies have shown that dramatically reducing our calories might extend our lifespans, as happens