This week’s #ThrowBrandThursday takes us back to the summer, namely September and the Rio Paralympic Games – a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities that follows the main Olympics event. Inspired by real-life stories, MALTESERS® launched a campaign to promote diversity and the Paralympics coverage on Channel 4. And Channel 4 aired what is believed to be the first TV ad ever to use sign language – at first even without any subtitles. It was followed by two other disability and chocolate honeycomb-focused commercials.

Channel 4 held an inspiring competition – proudly called Superhumans Wanted — offering £1m in free TV ad space to the ad agency, advertiser, organisation or production company that would submit the strongest campaign featuring disability and disabled talent. Mars Chocolate and UK’s largest advertising agency, AMV BBDO, came up with a new campaign for MALTESERS® created in response to the ground breaking initiative that aims to help improve representation of disability in TV advertising. Michele Oliver, VP of Marketing at Mars Chocolate UK explained company’s approach: “As one of the UK’s biggest advertisers, we have a responsibility and a role to play in reflecting diversity in everyday media. This is a first step for us, and with a fifth of the UK population living with a disability, and the nation focused on this great sporting event, this is the right time to join the conversation.

The three adverts were created in partnership with disability charity Scope and focus especially on the lighter moments in the lives of those living with a disability. These moments were inspired by real-life stories and the adverts follow the familiar MALTESERS® creative concept of friends sharing embarrassing moments, from new boyfriends to behaving badly at a wedding – after which the best thing to do is simply just ‘look on the light side.’ And as the ‘not-so-naughty’ chocolate nibs celebrate such approach towards life, the ads show us that humour can be a powerful force for positive change in overcoming taboos and breaking down barriers surrounding disability.

Lisa Quinlan-Rahman, Director of External Affairs at Scope said: “We know comedy is a great way to shine a light on the awkwardness that many people feel about disability. We hope Maltesers’s use of humour in these adverts will get people thinking differently about disability and help break down the barriers that many disabled people face. But life isn’t always full of laughs and we’ve worked very closely with Mars to ensure the adverts reflect the experiences of disabled people. Disabled people come from an incredibly diverse array of backgrounds. They rarely see their lives reflected in marketing campaigns, the media, in advertising and in public culture.”

The last commercial might be a bit too much for some of the viewers’ liking, but it is nice to see disability presented with a hint of naughtiness and wit. Catriona Collins, Strategy Partner at AMV BBDO, added that: “Rather than creating distance by putting disabled people on a pedestal, we believed we could achieve more by showing disabled people simply as… people. For MALTESERS® that meant seeking out the hilarious stories from their lives that they look on the light side of, just as the characters in the rest of our campaign do. It meant using a powerful weapon to break down discomfort, division and prejudice – a good laugh.”

You can also admire the campaign created to present an unusual band of superheroes of Channel 4 below. Created by 4Creative team and director Dougal Wilson from Blink — who is also responsible for John Lewis’ jumping Buster the Boxer hit advert — these adverts feature not just athletes but disabled people of all kinds.

Credits:

Project: Maltesers ‘Look on the Light Side’
Client name & job title: Michele Oliver, UK VP of Marketing, Mars
Fabio Alings, Brand Director, Maltesers
Brief (in one line): Look on the light side of disability
Creative Agency: AMV BBDO
Creative Director: Tim Riley
Copywriter/Art Director: Dave Buchanan
Agency Planner: Catriona Collins, Elly Fenlon
Agency Account Man: Philippa Field, Rebecca Kavanagh, Abbi Brown
Agency Producer: Lizzie Mabbott, Frankie Burwell-Wright
Media Agency: ZenithOptimedia
Media Planner: Aurelie de-Menthiere, Daisy Ross
Production Company: Biscuit
Director: Clay Weiner
Production Co. Producer: Toby Courlander