Disability is not Inability

:: EACA on the role of media in disability.

The European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA) is a Brussels-based organisation whose mission is to represent full-service advertising and media agencies and agency associations in Europe.

EACA aims to promote honest, effective advertising, high professional standards, and awareness of the contribution of advertising in a free market economy and to encourage close co-operation between agencies, advertisers and media in European advertising bodies.

According to an article in the EACA website the following conclusion was the situation much in the role of advertisting in building positive disability in the european society:

The reality is that advertising reflects society and therefore most advertisers at some point produce ads that somehow feature their target audiences. And no matter what your target group is, there will of course be people with disabilities within it.

Because there is a high proportion of people in society who have a disability, there is clearly an opportunity for advertisers to create a richer depiction of any target audience by including people with disabilities in their campaign some of the time.

By harnessing positive images of disability the advertisers convey their brand messages powerfully, and at the same time people with disabilities are featured as included equals rather than excluded victims.

Advertising can help the general public be more comfortable with people with disabilities by itself being comfortable with the issue and the language of disability. By using and showing disability in lots of different ways it will 'loosen up' the territory.

To conclude, I would like to point out that the business community, including the advertisers and agencies, should be better informed on disability issues.

And it goes without saying that if the business community were better educated about the size and potential of the market, then advertising programs with the disabled consumer in mind would be created more often.

And this would benefit everyone, the advertisers, the agencies, the charities, and most particularly the people with disabilities themselves.

EACA correspondent.

1st June 2007

:: Role of advertising on disability.

:: EACA on Disability and the Media

:: How Advertising contributes to discrmination.

:: What Viewers want to see.

:: There are some Progress Made...

:: How can advertising Help?

:: How Disability can best be portrayed.