A new advert from Maltesers has appeared on a bus shelter in London, intended to help celebrate diversity in advertising through the use of model chocolates to create a Braille poster.
According to CNBC, the slogan that accompanies the poster – ‘Caught a really fast bus once, turns out it was a fire engine’ – is spelled out in Braille, words that came from a blind woman from Glasgow who took part in a focus group put on by the chocolate brand and disability charity Scope.
Vice-president of marketing at Mars Chocolate UK Michele Oliver was quoted by the news source as saying: “This small-scale activation is a natural next step in our ambition to get closer to our consumers; by normalizing disability in advertising and communications, and using humour to challenge preconceptions.”
The braille poster is accompanied by an audio message that directs people to the brand’s Facebook page, where sighted people will find the message translated for them so they too can understand it.
This is by no means the first time that Maltesers has championed this kind of diversity in its advertising campaigns. Last year, for example, three new TV ads were launched by the brand, focusing on the lighter moments in the lives of disabled people in a bid to improve disability representation in TV advertising.
Further research from Scope has found that 80 per cent of disabled people feel underrepresented by the media and TV in general – which suggests that more must be done by ad agencies and brands alike.
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