Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which partnered with the Royal National Institute of Blind People to run a series of unusual ad breaks to spread the awareness, among people to raise awareness of eye health and the importance of regular tests.
Channel 4 network modified the existing ads for Amazon Echo, Freeview, O2, Specsavers and Rabanne, so they suddenly appear blurry. It is just a simulation of eye disorder such as glaucoma, hemianopia, macular degeneration, cataracts, and diabetes related sight loss.
The approach works especially well in the Specsavers spot below. The eyewear chain’s original vision-care message gains sharper focus as the video grows progressively hazy and dark from the edges, replicating the effects of glaucoma. “It’s great that we’ve found five brave and forward-thinking brands to work with, but we wish there were more,” said David Amodio, digital and creative leader for sales at Channel 4. “Brands talk a good game when it comes to accessibility and diversity initiatives, but you’d be surprised just how hard it is once you try to push these ideas over the line.”
Fashion brand Paco Rabanne was quite confident and clear about the ads which aired during reality show Updateable between 9.15 and 9.30 p.m., and was happy to educate the public about the effects of cataract especially, how cataract clouds their vision. For the sight-impaired viewers, a descriptive audio was also added so they can listen and become aware about the illness.
As a promotion for National Eye Health Week, and raising awareness and inspiring viewers to get regular eye checkup, David Amodio while creating commercials, said, “We have set ourselves an objective to make advertisers think about audiences with accessibility challenges such as hearing loss or sight loss.” Channel 4 expects other marketers to also take care and “consider improving from an accessibility point of view in the future.”
“We are the Superheroes” a Cannes Grand Prix winning film, is one of the notable campaigns that Network 4 had created and in addition to that during the games, with deaf artist and actor David Ellington, the channel also ran “the most accessible ad break ever” with full sign-language support for spots.