Advertising

Advertising is defined as a paid, mass media-driven attempt to persuade selected audiences. Advertising messages, whether carried on traditional media (television, radio, newspaper and magazines) or nontraditional channels (e.g., Internet, kiosks in malls, signs in malls), are designed to provide the public with brand information, change their perception about a particular product, or motivate them to take action.

Although the definition seems simple, advertising is anything but simple. In the United States alone, more than $300 billion is spent each year on advertising campaigns targeted to various market segments. According to the National Organization on Disability (NOD) (Cheng 2002), the disability community is a market segment worth $220 billion in collective spending power each year. The 54 million people making up this segment represent 20 percent of the U.S. population. It is not surprising therefore that advertising and disability are linked. According to a 1999 report (Farnall and Smith 1999), more than 100 corporations producing general consumer goods were including people with disabilities in their television advertising campaigns. Advertising Age, a major trade publication in the advertising industry, addressed the connection between people with disabilities and major corporations by claiming it is just “good business sense” to use ability-integrated advertising. While these facts might be interpreted as an acceptance of people with disabilities in advertising executions, it is important to remember the percentage of people with disabilities in advertising is approximately 2–3 percent, well below the population percentage.

The debate over the social impact of advertising is particularly appropriate to this discussion. Advertising is first and foremost a business activity designed to improve the bottom line for companies, yet some research on advertising featuring people with disabilities supports the idea that there can be societal benefits [Page 40]to positive portrayal in advertising. Other social science studies have found either no effect or negative impact such as when the portrayal included physically disabled females interacting with nondisabled males.

The history of advertising targeting people with disabilities is fraught with many of the same ethical issues (stereotypical representations, absence from the media) other minorities have encountered. And the power of a message that is intended to persuade cannot be overlooked in a discussion of that history.