Pity or Positive Disabled advertising today - Essay Example

This essay "Pity or Positive? Disabled advertising today" outlines the image of the disabled people in the media and commercials and their visibility. Studies and reports have found that it is advantageous to mainstream disability and to include disabled people in advertisements. Reports also reveal that mutual benefits can be gained when companies use ads that feature people with disabilities. Advertising (2001) reports: These ads were breaking fresh ground, partly because they were not from charities or rights commissions, but less expectedly from commercial organizations that were using disability to convey a message about their brand.

By choosing disability as its subject, the Co-op Bank ad was reminding people of its ethical values. The Coca Cola ad was giving the brand, not known for having roots in football, real credibility among football fans. Freeserve was using a disabled person as a metaphor for capability and accomplishment. But in using images of disability to convey such messages about their brands, these advertisers also broke ground in the subtext about what they said about disability.” Many have grasped the negative perception caused by the lack of exposure of disabled persons in the media.

Hence, they fear that they will feel uncomfortable around those with disabilities. When advertisements show disabled individuals in everyday surroundings and situations, these fears are alleviated. The audience starts to see the truth—that those with disabilities are really not that different from those who do not have these disabilities.