Fast Food

Advertising and Disability Representation for Burger King Brazil

Burger King’s tagline Be Your Way has a meaning that goes well beyond the food combinations and customizations available, to how the home of the Whopper welcomes diversity and inclusion. Now Burger King’s newest TV commercial for the Brazilian-market features some of that country’s disability firsts.  

For the first time on Brazilian TV, an audio description was incorporated into a commercial in a  primary broadcast. Spoken in Portugese, the audio description opens with “At Burger King, Eduardo, a blind Caucasian male, wears a cardboard crown.” An audio description is a voice over that describes what is seen in the video to help blind and visually impared viewers gain a better understanding of what is on screen. Typically this is accessed via Secondary Audio Programming, or SAP, but Burger King incorporated the audio description as a creative component, further differentiating the ad. 

Eduardo’s casual camaraderie takes center stage in the commercial as he excitedly describes the flame-grilled flavors, feel of the buns and he throws in a casual expletive tied to the great taste. 

In an Adweek article, marketing and sales director for Burger King Brazil, Ariel Grunkraut, shared that “we constantly strive to make everyone feel that they belong, feel they are free to be who they are, with respect for individualities.” Ad agency David SP, based in Sao Paulo spearheaded the campaign. 

This Burger King ad portrays a person with a disability in a positive light, and it moves the needle forward for representation of people with disabilities in advertising. But, there are some potentially negative considerations to bring up. First, Eduardo, is featured by himself in the ad, and while that puts disability front and center, some might suggest based on disability studies and mass communication theory that this continues an already estranged othering and segregation of people with disabilities. Second, because Eduardo is by himself and the camera and script intently follow him eating, some may see this portrayal as inspiration porn, or objectifying the disability. To offset these points, the creative team could have considered a group of people in the commercial with Eduardo leading the conversation among diners around the table. Third, since there is no indication that this ad is part of a larger campaign featuring people with disabilities the ad feels a bit more like a one-off gimmick than a longstanding commitment. Fourth, and this goes beyond the ad, but Rafael Donato, David Sao Paolo’s vice president of creative who spearheaded the ad shared that “although blind, Eduardo doesn’t see his disability as a handicap. Quite the opposite.” I wish Mr. Donato had chosen a different phrase other than “doesn’t see his disability.”   

All that said, Burger King’s disability representation in this advertisement has garnered significant positive publicity, and for the most part, I’m in support with some future considerations for upcoming BK ads or for other creative teams to consider in developing positive portrayals of disability in advertising. 

Hearing Eduardo’s talk about the flavors and feel of the Whopper connected with me because I’m blind and have low vision and I rely on people describing menu options. My hope is that this commercial will lead to similar disability representation in other Burger King advertising across the globe. 

Standard
Australia

Ads In Australia Can Be Inclusive For More Than A Day

Two advertising campaigns show, for better and worse the opportunities and pitfalls of diversity and disability inclusion.

What was touted as one of the of the most diversity-friendly commercials to date, to promote enjoying lamb on Australia Day, was in fact one of the worst examples of progressive inclusion in media. Continue reading

Standard
Changing The Face of Beauty

Disability: From Ugly To Beautiful

What if you were fined for just being out and about and walking down the sidewalk…because you were considered ugly? I’m not talking about the Fashion Police that could jokingly fine you if  you’re caught wearing a combination of plaid and paisley. From the late 1800’s to the mid 1970’s, several larger cities across America had so-called Ugly Laws, that would fine people, most often those with disabilities, up to $50 for just being out in public. These laws not only tried to enforce people from being outside and in public places , but also created a stigma among family members, caretakers and the people with disabilities themselves, that they were lesser than, not deserving of, or in any way part of normal society. Continue reading

Standard
advertising, Amputee Advertising, disability

How amputees became the disabled darlings of Madison Avenue

Recently Campaign Live, an advertising industry media outlet, published several articles tied to increasing visibility of advertising and disability. Journalist I-Hsien Sherwood wrote groundbreaking editorial tied to advertising and disability. Prior to this article, whenever advertising and disability was covered by major industry media outlets like Adweek or AdAge, typically the focus of the story centered around one ad and the person or persons with a disability featured therein. Sherwood takes a more global perspective and posits the reasons for the rise in amputees being featured in advertising. In the article I was able to share commentary on the current state of disability in advertising. Continue reading

Standard
Olympics, Paralympics

Britain Wins Gold For Disability Adverts

Pictured in the featured image are USA athlete Tatyana McFadden and British athletes Hannah Cockcroft and Melissa Nichols celebrating victories and holding up their respective country’s flag.

But what if the Paralympics competitions expanded into awarding medals for each country’s best inclusion of people with disabilities in advertising? Britain would be leagues ahead of the U.S.A., and here’s why. Continue reading

Standard
Olympics, Paralympics, Social Justice, Toykyo 2020

How Will Sagamihara Shape The 2020 Tokyo Paralymics Disability Stories?

The Rio Paralympics haven’t even started, and the games are already in a crisis of shifted funding for athlete participation, diminished staff and potentially empty stands. But the Sagamihara massacre and Japan’s surrounding miasma dealing with disability, make these hurdles seem small compared to what lies ahead for the games, athletes, advertisers and so many others when Tokyo hosts the Paralympics in 2020. Continue reading

Standard
advertising, Automotive Advertising, disability, Jaguar, Wheelchair

Advertising & Disability at a Crossroads: Stop typecasting and using us as props.

I love everything about Jaguar cars and I’m a big fan of Stephen Hawking, but the combination of the two in the British auto brand’s latest advertisement left me a bit disappointed. The plot line pulls in James Bond themes with actor Tom Hiddleston, portraying a secret agent and driving the Jaguar F-PACE. The luxury car maneuvers effortlessly across roadways through cinematic vistas to arrive at a futuristic mountain hideaway where Hiddleston meets Stephen Hawking. Watch the commercial before reading any further and come to your own conclusions on what type of character Hawking is supposed to be. Continue reading

Standard
Olympics, Uncategorized

Advertising can take someone from being wheelchair bound to boundless.

Two ad campaigns that came out days apart portray people with disabilities in totally different lights…one for the better and one not so good. What this tells me is that we have a long way to go to educate and inform agency creatives and advertisers on best practices to incorporate people with disabilities consistently and positively. Continue reading

Standard
American Sign Language, ASL Day, Burger King

Sign of the times: Burger King brings ASL to branding.

Most people know April 15th as tax day, but its also National American Sign Language Day and Burger King had a whopper of an idea to create some fun connections while connecting advertising and disability. Continue reading

Standard
advertising, disability, Honey Maid

Getting MORE Wholesome with Disability, Diversity and Acceptance

Food styling, features and benefits and an amazing taste profile are all must haves in the consumer packaged goods category. But for brands to truly shine and create lasting connections with customers, the brand’s own employees, store owners and families everywhere, Honey Maid, among others, realizes that advertising can be powerful and go beyond category must haves to community hope. Continue reading

Standard