Five things you must know to improve representation of disability in your ads

Did you know that people with disability make up over 20% of the population and have global spending power of over 8 Trillion US Dollars? But only 1% of ads include people with disability. Crazy! And it is something that we all have the potential to influence as people working in advertising and media.

If you haven’t heard of the Shift 20 Initiative, it is a nudge by the Dylan Alcott Foundation to build the authentic representation of people with a disability in advertising from 1% to 20%.

Some of the country’s biggest advertisers have signed up to participate. To start with, Special Group and 12 of Australia’s biggest brands (ANZ, Bonds, Uber, KIA, McDonalds and NIB to name a few) undertook a world first experiment.

They took their current ads and re-filmed sections to replace the original cast with people with disability, and then re-aired them. Here’s an example of what we mean – take a look at these two Bonds ads.

The original edit:

The Shift 20 edit:

We at Luma heard about this and wanted to get involved (with our supporting partner Pureprofile). Our aim was to compare the response to the two edits of the ad – the original ads and the Shift 20 edits that include casting with disability. We conducted a large, controlled, monadic implicit study to measure the emotional system 1 response.

The results were fascinating. Here are five key insights:

1. Inclusiveness is expected

Consumers expect brands to take a stand on social issues – around 70% of people we surveyed said this was important to them. The response was even higher for those with a lived experience of disability either personally or through loved ones. We also found that 69% of people felt that it is good that ads are inclusive – interestingly, this was significantly higher after people had seen an ad with a person with disability. So, the fact of seeing disability on screen, builds community awareness around the issue.

2. It makes commercial sense

In Australia, 4.5 million people have some form of disability. People with disability are consumers just like anyone else – they buy fast food, open bank accounts and go on holidays and ultimately represent 20% of consumer buying power.

And what we found was an uplift in consideration for most brands for the Shift 20 ads for people with lived experience of disability. This is because many of them felt a stronger sense of relevance from the ads.

3. Inclusivity can help to build a positive emotional response

We all know the power of emotion in advertising, and what we found was that the casting changes could have a positive impact on how people feel as they watch the ads. In some examples people, felt a greater sense of warmth or interest in the ad. Look at the McDonalds ads for example.

The original edit:

The Shift 20 edit:

In the ads for McDonald’s, we saw a significant increase in the engagement and feelings of warmth and happiness using our Moment by Moment tool (where people select emotions they’re feeling in real time while watching the ad). Our Moment by Moment trace showed that the new casting of the young girl and her family generated a stronger emotional response.

4. Main and minor roles are equally impactful

As part of the study, we evaluated three levels of roles. Some of the people cast were in lead roles (like Bonds), some were in secondary roles (like McDonalds) and some very minor (extras).

What we found is that there was a potential positive impact of change at all three levels. The benefit of inclusive casting could be seen just as strongly for small roles as it was for main roles. The one consideration is just to ensure that there is reasonable level of time to see the person, if it is too quick or early on in the ad, they could be missed.

5. Similarly engaging and effective

Probably the most important insight was that inclusive ads are similarly effective and engaging.

Overall, the response to the inclusive ads was very similar to the original edits. They were just as funny and interesting, and just as likely to get noticed. The casting ratings were also just as strong in terms of showing people that they are relevant and well-suited to the ad.

For Bonds, the ad was just as effective when it starred a hearing impaired actor as it was with a person without disability.

So, there is really nothing to lose. There is no downside!

This experiment was really just the start of a movement that has the potential to change the lives of millions of people.

But, what can you do?

We can sometimes forget, but the advertising and media industries are highly influential. People are exposed to thousands of impressions from our brands on a daily basis and we have the opportunity to shape how people think and feel. Advertising can shape trends, culture, norms and behaviour.

We have an important role to play in authentically representing all of Australia in our ads – yes cultural, yes gender, yes age, yes sexuality, but also yes to those living with disability.

As an industry we have this chance to change the world. So, what’s stopping us?

Reach out to us for more information or directly to the Shift 20 Initiative.