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Whether it is press, outdoor, TV, radio or digital, government is a massive producer of advertising in the UK.
Government accounts for a significant proportion of advertising expenditure in the UK and therefore has a central role in improving the number and quality of products involving disabled people.
By including disabled people in its creative output, government advertising can help to shift the idea that disability is an unremitting tragedy affecting a small minority to show that it is a normal part of life and that disabled people can be successful in a range of roles, providing their needs are met.
There have been some good examples of advertising featuring actors and models who are disabled but overall disabled people are substantially under-represented in advertising. UK advertisers and their agencies, as a rule, do not actively seek to cast disabled people in their campaigns.
Research by Images of Disability has found a genuine conflict for many communications experts. On the one hand there is a tangible willingness by people to want to do the right thing. On the other there is the concern that the message will be undermined by including disabled people.
It is important to remember that most disability is not visible. This is an issue to consider in representation, to ensure that there isn't overrepresentation of, for example, people who use wheelchairs. Print and poster advertising can fall prey to this cliche. With television, film and radio, there is more scope to include other forms of disability that aren't visible.
Many communicators will be concerned that including a disabled person in advertising will overcomplicate the message and compromise their communication objectives.
This is a very real concern, although the adverts mentioned in this guidance suggest that there can be fantastic opportunities to amplify an intended message.
While using disabled people in particular adverts can bring added meaning, at other times it can be distracting. For example, the Department for Education and Skills advert for teachers using a wheelchair user in one version was easily understood as meaning that disabled people were wanted as teachers.
However, a drink drive campaign focused on the risk of injury could be compromised by including a disabled person as the driver or even in the background because the message of the campaign is about driving injuries.
Learning to date suggests that if you have a disabled person in a pivotal role, you need to decide whether the disability is central to the idea or beside the point creatively.
So if you are communicating a message without reference to the disability featured in the advert, you should probably take extra care that the disability itself (or the way the disabled actor plays the part) doesn't trigger the viewer or listener to assume a connection.
A 2001 Teletext TV advert featuring a football fan in a wheelchair is a good example of this. The featured actor in the wheelchair simply celebrates the news of a goal by taking a beer from the fridge and cheering. While the camera work makes good dramatic use of the momentum of the wheelchair there is no attempt to use the disability to bring additional meaning to the message. It is incidental and simply reminds you of the important role that Teletext has for any football fan.
Problems arise if the creative idea is unclear. If people don't understand, or you leave things too vague, they will use preconceptions (i.e. their assumptions about why advertising features disability) and make further assumptions about the message.
There is more information on portraying disabled people in advertising in the representing disability effectively section of this guidance.
For practical tips, visit the top tips section of this guidance.
For other information resources, go to the resources section of this guidance.
Page last reviewed: 11 August 2008