I just had to put finger to keypad to express my feelings over a phenomenon that has recently appeared on the nation’s TV screens… adverts featuring disabled people!
During my career in the media, which will enter it’s 25th year in 2013, I have discussed the lack of disabled people in advertising with several ad execs, normally at boozy media parties. They all told me that the industry was all about image and impression. The big worry was that if they used disabled actor or models it might create a subconscious association in the public’s mind between the product being advertised and disability, thus making people feel the product might be sub standard or in some way less. Invalid you might say. Whether it’s true or not, in the advertising world the product’s the thing so anything that might damage the product’s image is a no no. So hence no disabled people.
Occasionally someone in the industry decides to buck this trend and we have popped up in an ad. A big one was the advert for a brand of trainer (I can’t remember which one so that didn’t work eh?) which featured a group of wheelchair racers. Sure it was great to see disabled people in an ad and it was everywhere, but I always felt that the exec who had the idea kind of missed the point. As a wheelchair user I still own shoes and boots I purchased over a decade ago and they look like new. As training shoes are designed to make running easier, safer and more comfortable the idea of using wheelchair users to advertise them just can’t make the viewer focus on these selling points. It was obviously done to gain publicity, which it did very well. Doubt it old more shoes though.
I have even auditioned for parts in adverts myself, but I only ever landed a part in an ad for transmission in France. I have no idea what the ad was for as I don’t speak French. The most recent rejection was for a major department store and instead of a real wheelchair user the part of “father in wheelchair” went to a non-disabled actor who had his leg put in plaster. This clearly demonstrated that the condition the character was in was temporary, was something most people could identify with and so would have no subconscious impact on the advert’s target audience.
So I was stunned to see not one but TWO television adverts that feature disabled people hit our screens in short succession. Just like buses, you wait for ages and then two come along at once. The first is a Barclay’s Bank ad which features a wheelchair using amputee. It makes no mention of his disability and he is just a typical bank customer, which is really refreshing.
Without being too criticial, I am unsure why an amputee who has such a high tech and expensive prosthetic leg would use a wheelchair to visit his bank. I do wonder if someone in a brainstorming session said “we need a wheelchair”, and so any one with a wheelchair would do. The guys chair is obviously a sports chair, so if he was playing basketball in the ad it might makes sense. I do wonder if having the guy walk in on his new robot leg would have made an equal impact. But hey, this might just be soar grapes as I didn’t even hear about the audition. What is my agent doing? Whatever the nuances of the ad, it’s a big step, or wheel, forward.
But the advert that makes me smile every time I see it, and that fills my heart with a feeling of hope, is the superb Dove shampoo ad “Feeling is believing”. This is everything that adverts should be and more. The most amazing thing about the ad is that it uses the featured lady’s disability as a vehicle to demonstrate the USP of the product. She’s blind and so she can’t see her hair but she knows how fantastic her hair looks by the way it feels. This ad uses disability as part of the selling process which is a massive leap forward.
I am sure that some visually impaired people out there might worry that it does play into the stereotype that of you loose your sight your other senses become better, but I don’t know if I would agree. To me this ad marks a change that I hope carries on forever. Maybe we’ll see a wheelchair user advertising hand soap next. Let’s face we always end up with dirty hands with all the filth that is on our streets so if a soap gets my hands clean it really works. It’s that kind of thinking that makes the Dove ad stand out to me and long may it continue.
But why have things changed suddenly, in such a short space of time? Well firstly let’s keep our fingers crossed that it isn’t a flash in the pan. Hopefully we now start seeing disabled people in advertising, both as part of the real world and as models and featured characters. I know that many in the Paralympic movement claim that this year’s games will change the way society thinks about disability and perhaps this is the first sign that they are right. Maybe the advertising industry has just decided the time is right to be more inclusive. Whatever the reason, if we want this to mark a change in the way advertising works then all disabled people can do is go out a buy the products. Actually I should take this opportunity to congratulate the people involved in both of these adverts. Keep up the good work and don’t let anyone in your industry tell you you’ve made a mistake. No one will associate your product with negativity. In fact I am sure that the Dove ad will actually make the product fly off the shelves.
Remember this moment folks. It might be the beginning of a real change and be one we talk about to our grand kids. I’m off to buy some shampoo and I know which product I’ll be purchasing!
Before I go I just had to show you an American ad from Nike that just shows how far ahead they are in the US. Disability, product placement and HUMOUR! And it makes me want to go out and Just Do It!
