Not All Ads Are Created Equal: Portrayals and Perceptions of Disabilities in Advertisements
Research Study, Thesis Paper + Presentation
2019
Centered around a topic near and dear to my heart, I wrote this thesis during the 2018-2019 academic year. At the time, it was incredibly difficult sourcing studies on similar topics, let alone finding examples of disability-inclusive advertisements that existed in the world. In the few short years since then, the rise in the number of inclusive advertisements I have personally seen has been exponential.
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While I'd never pretend this one paper I wrote in college was a reason for this increase in representation, such a notable uptick in inclusive ads is something worth celebrating while remaining mindful of the work our industry still needs to do.
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If there is anything you take away from this portion of my portfolio, it's that I am always going to prioritize the creation of inclusive work, whether it be a single social post or a global campaign. I'm hoping that's a drive you can get behind, and a goal you're willing to share. Should this be the case, I'd love to work together.
Abstract
In the overall landscape of disability representations, there exist both limited insights into the portrayal of disabilities in advertisements as well as an absence of insight into viewer responses to disability portrayals in advertisements. This study aims to understand how disabilities are represented in modern advertisements in conjunction with understanding viewer responses to modern disability-inclusive advertisements. To address these questions, a dual-method approach comprised of a content analysis of 24 disability-inclusive video advertisements and a survey of 150 viewers of advertisements was utilized. Despite the notable lack of disability-inclusive advertisements in society as a whole, representations of disabilities in advertisements that do exist were found to be primarily positive and portrayed through the human frame. Moreover, viewers of disability-inclusive advertisements were found to foster positive reactions to disability portrayals in advertisements. The limitations of this study include the small content analysis sample size, the exemption of additional coding categories from the research, and the possibility of misrepresentative survey responses. Further research investigating greater analysis of the representation of disabilities in advertisements beyond video and comparative analysis of the effect of inclusive- and non-inclusive advertisements on brand affinity would heighten insight into the landscape of disability representations.