Going Grey describes the media's presentation of population ageing and the rise of the ‘Grey Vote’ in the United Kingdom by quantifying this growing trend, presenting the negative depiction by the news media of the effects of population ageing and describing ‘how older voters have been portrayed and framed by the main political parties in Britain’ (p. 118) during the UK General Election campaigns of 2005 and 2010. One ambition of the book is to encourage academic interest in research into political marketing as the interface between marketing and management science.

To achieve this, the book has 13 chapters, in three main parts. The first part (Chapters Two to Five) presents general ideas from a selection of theories of ageing and of political issues: negative notions such as the ‘time bomb’, ‘gerontocracy’ and ‘apocalyptic demography’ driven by neo-liberal economics (and the importance of ‘ageist stereotyping’) are contrasted with the ‘Third Age’ representation of ageing associated with a positive ‘active ageing movement’. In the second part (Chapters Six to Nine) the reader is introduced to the ‘mediation’ of ageing in the media and in voting behaviour. In Chapter Six, the author argues that ‘a fair volume of useful research exists on media portrayal of older people, but very little has been done to specifically investigate portrayals of population ageing’ (p. 39). While this justifies the presentation of three specific pieces of research, produced by non-traditional academics, it gives too little space to in-depth explorations of cultural ageing in such areas. Chapter Seven illustrates some facts about older cohorts’ voting behaviours as explained by rational choice theories: this is complemented by a quick survey of cohort and lifecycle influences in Chapter Eight. Chapter Nine presents political marketing and practices/strategies of segmentation of the Grey Vote, where the author finds his inspiration. The third part of the book consists of the study of mediation itself, through three focuses. Chapter Ten quantifies the changing electoral demography in UK constituencies and projects it for 2025. Referring to all voters aged 55+ as the ‘Grey Vote’ enables the author to underscore how massive the change is; however, this approach over-homogenises the trend, so that the author says too little about the decline in voting after the age of 70, for example. Chapter Eleven summarises ‘elite BBC reporting’ that fully embraces the negative neo-liberal frame of accounting of younger versus baby-boomer generations, but fails to propose a balanced vision of issues. Chapter Twelve describes how major UK parties dealt with the ageing issue in the 2005 and 2010 campaigns; it surprisingly shows that politicians go for an ‘age-neutral policy’ discourse, and none of them follow the negative vision of ageing outlined by the author in the section on media. Two explanations are given: just as the media's market research is associated with a preference for young customers (strongly influenced by the interests of advertisers), so politicians for their part may be willing to adopt a balanced position in order to avoid focusing on either older or young people. Secondly, older people are also said not to consider themselves as old. However, we looked in vain for further explanations of the dissonance between the BBC and political elites as ‘mediation’ might also be expected to presuppose links.

Going Grey is an original book due to what might seem like a mere detail: the scientific purpose of the book (introducing political marketing into ageing studies), coming with support for more communication between media practitioners and academics, reflects the author's own biography. Davidson is here presenting his first full academic book publication, having come ‘relatively late to academic research and publishing’ after leaving behind a career in ‘the world of public affairs and campaigning’. The author is 58 and perfectly illustrates the ‘Grey Vote’.

This point explains some of the strengths and weaknesses of the book. Depending on the audience, the first part will be a sufficient introduction for media professionals or students to ageing themes such as the negative view of ageing through ‘apocalyptic demography’ or through ageism, while for gerontologists it will seem sketchy and of little use. Conversely, the second part and Chapter Nine in particular will be of interest for the latter, but probably of little interest for the former. The last part, on the study itself, may interest both groups, but for divergent reasons. Media professionals and students will come to consider ageing with a more nuanced view; gerontologists may realise that elections and voting present an original setting for fieldwork. The book will thus interest a range of audiences, from media professionals and students to gerontology researchers and students.