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
Category Archives: Amputee Advertising
Stepping Forward: Advertising & The Amputee Athlete
Paralympians Break The Ad Barrier was the title of a BusinessWeek article published in 2008. Just in the recent past, only three years ago, disabled athletes were granted a small advertising foothold of endorsements and sponsorships mostly dominated by gold medal Olympians. Major marketers including Visa and McDonalds, both longtime supporters of disability advocacy and awareness, wove compelling stories of disabled athletes into their general marketing campaigns centered around the 2008 Olympic games. Antonio Lucio, Visa’s chief marketing officer said, “The person we decided to feature, Cheri Blauwet, is not just a Paralympic athlete but an incredible female role model.” Continue reading
Advertising & Disability Go Hand In Hand
Have you seen the Benz branded bionics? Disability and advertising made it into the headlines of Adweek, one of the industry’s leading news publications, when Matthew James, a 14-year-old British amputee, wrote to Mercedes Benz asking the automaker to help fund a new one. Continue reading