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Breaking Barriers: The Role of Advertising in Normalizing Disability

Breaking Barriers: The Role of Advertising in Normalizing Disability

Georgia Phillips – COO, Luma

Advertising has the potential to normalize disability and drive both societal and commercial impact. Georgia Phillips (Luma Research) advocated for advertising’s ability to shape cultural norms and attitudes with research inspired by Australian Paralympian Dylan Alcott, a key advocate for inclusion through the Shift 20 Initiative. This initiative involved 12 brands in Australia re-shooting existing ads and replacing able-bodied actors with disabled talent, creating two versions of the same ad to test viewer reactions. Georgia and her team set up a rigorous study that assessed the differences in audience response between the original and revised ads. Key takeaways:
  • Inclusive ads were equally engaging and showed no drop in viewer enjoyment or effectiveness.
  • There was no negative response from the general public, demonstrating that inclusive advertising is both impactful and risk-free when done authentically.
  • Stronger brand connection and purchase intent were observed among those with lived disability experience. Inclusive brands are likely to have more broad appeal.
  • Main vs. minor character roles both worked well—visibility and authenticity mattered more than prominence.

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Attitudes Towards Inclusivity in Advertising: A Twelve Country Study

Attitudes Towards Inclusivity in Advertising: A Twelve Country Study

Steven Millman – Global Head of Research & Data Science, Dynata

Steven Millman of Dynata shared key findings from Dynata’s global research on attitudes towards inclusivity in advertising and why that matters. The online survey was conducted across 12 countries (U.S., Canada, U.K., Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, China, Japan, Australia and Brazil) with a representative sample of 18+ adults and a total of 12,043 respondents. The survey examined attitudes and feelings of various minority groups (including LGBTQIA+, women, seniors, people with disabilities). Race was only considered for the U.S. sample, as race couldn’t be asked in certain countries or it was challenging to get sufficient diverse samples by race in non-U.S. countries. Overall, the study found that members of minority groups generally feel somewhat less authentically represented in advertising than do others. With the exception of racial minorities in the U.S., marginalized groups also tend to feel less satisfied by their portrayals in advertising. The presentation also delved into cross-country trends and differences, as well as a deeper dive into the impact of political affiliations and gender on attitudes and purchase intent in the U.S. along issues of inclusivity and diversity. Key takeaways:
  • Across countries, members of minority groups generally feel somewhat less authentically represented in advertising than do others. However, most people do not across the board.
  • Marginalized groups, especially LGBTQ+, are also less likely to be satisfied by their portrayals in advertising. The only exception was underrepresented racial group in the U.S.
  • In general, people think inclusivity in advertising is important, especially among younger groups. However, the exception was seniors, who only ranked portrayals of people over 65 as highly important.
  • Portrayals of equal representation of women and men and people with disabilities ranked the highest in importance across different age demos.
  • Portrayals of the LGBTQIA+ community ranked the lowest in term of importance across all age groups, and the portrayal of LGBTQIA+ was important to less than half of non-LGBTQIA+ respondents.
  • The majority felt that we are going in the right direction in terms of whether things are getting better or worse with respect to inclusivity in advertising. This satisfaction was overall lower in the U.S., similarly between racial and non-racial minorities.
  • In the U.S., Democratic men were much more likely than Republican or Independent men to say that they would be more likely to purchase from inclusive advertisers. There were similar differences among women along party lines, but the gaps were much closer.
  • Among countries, Brazil reported the importance of the portrayals of marginalized groups as the highest.

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MODERATED TRACK DISCUSSIONS: Cross-Platform: Measurement & Identity

During the discussion, Duane Varan (MediaScience) and Steve Bellman (MediaScience & Ehrenberg-Bass Institute) discussed the metrics they used, the implications of their research for media planning, and the results of their research in the U.S. Sean Pinkney (Comscore) talked about the lessons he had taken away from his analysis of missing data.

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Australia’s Largest Cross-Platform Study: The Power of News

According to the study’s sponsor, the research was prompted by many advertisers’ “ambivalence” about news as context for their ads. The study, the largest of its kind ever conducted, used an experimental design, placing comparable ads in newspapers and on digital platforms. Digital ads were placed in news and other contexts. The study was conducted in Australia, but U.S. data were also obtained. The analysis focused on three issues:

  1. Does the news context promote ad recall, positive attitudes about the product, and brand choice?
  2. Do ads work better on print or on digital platforms?
  3. What do the findings tell us about how advertising works in different contexts and on different platforms?

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