McCann Worldgroup and Media Trust Team Up to Reframe How Disability Is Represented in Advertising

Last week, McCann Worldgroup and Media Trust came together to host an event aimed at reframing how Disability is represented in advertising. The Missing 23% refers to the UK Government’s stats that 23% of the UK working-age population is disabled, and the fact that despite making up 23% of the UK population, disabled people are significantly underrepresented in advertising.

Lucy Hudson, MD McCann Demand said, “Hosting the Missing 23% event and working with these great partners has proven that change is not going to happen fast enough in representation of the disabled community in advertising without deliberate and consistent action. At McCann, we are leading the charge on this, but we still have a lot to learn and would encourage others to join us on this journey!” 

Research from Channel 4 found that only 4% of television adverts included disabled talent in 2021, and only 1% of television adverts included a disabled person as the main character. As part of their event, McCann Worldgroup shared the latest research and creative ideas around representing people with Disabilities in advertising. They found that 64% of disabled people in the UK believe that the portrayal of people with disabilities in the media is outdated.

Su-Mei Thompson, Media Trust CEO said, “This was a very timely Summit particularly in light of the launch last week of the new Disabled People's Manifesto. 

Disability representation in the media really matters because of the massive impact the media has on policy-making and public attitudes. Right now, successive policy decisions mean disabled people's lives are not valued equally. Disabled people face barriers to health care, they have to pay for social care, they live in unaffordable and inaccessible homes and constantly have to fight for adaptations to services like access to information, transport and leisure facilities. Given all this, we were delighted to hear the appetite in the room for systemic change in how disability is represented in advertising. 

Besides agencies and brands needing to ensure accessibility is included in the creative process from the start, we would also urge the creative sector to consult with disabled people/organisations if they're going to feature disability in ads. And finally, we also need to ensure young disabled talent know the ad industry is for them and a place where they can thrive. Media Trust is well placed to help the media industry connect with disabled organisations and to develop the pipeline of disabled creative talent." 

As part of the event, Tanya Bogin, MD Craft London, hosted a panel with Purple Goat’s Dom Hyams, The Dots’ Pip Jamieson and Disability Rights UK’s Kamran Mallick, who shared their experiences and thoughts about what the sector can do to better represent Disabilities. 

Tanya Bogin said: “I want to be an ally to help normalise disability by bringing representation, acceptance, and understanding to our internal teams. Speaking with the panellists gave me the unique opportunity to get advice from people who have lived experience about how we can effect change on the ground. 

I've left the discussion with some real practical actions I can take with my leadership team to impact change in how we cast for talent, what support we could engage from consultants and how we can educate creatives and makers alike to think and execute with inclusiveness front and centre.”

McCann Worldgroup and Media Trust recognise the need for systemic change and for collective sector-wide initiatives to ensure advertising is more accessible, representative and inclusive of Disabled and/or neurodivergent people. 

The event was hosted by McCann Worldgroup’s regional director of diversity, equity & inclusion Europe & UK, Bertille Calinaud, who said: “Representation needs to be authentic, joyful and showcase the depth of people’s lived experience. We need to normalise that representation and not only focus on products that are aimed at this community. ‬‬‬‬

We also can’t forget intersectionality. Being disabled can mean a myriad of things, and different people’s lived experiences will vary depending on other layers of identity such as gender, race, socio-economic background, age, sexual orientation. For some people, the under-representation is even more stark because of their multiple identities, and we have a duty to represent these experiences.”

McCann Worldgroup is committed to Conscious Inclusion and believes that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is foundational to achieving our mission of helping brands earn a meaningful role in people’s lives. You can find out more about their unifying philosophy here. 

Media Trust is partnering with McCann Worldgroup and others across the creative industry to support change, and you can find out more about their work here.