‘Advertising’s Role in Disability as a Social Process’

‘Advertising’s Role in Disability as a Social Process’ By Mary-Ann O’Donovan Supervisor: Dr. Katrina Lawlor

RESEARCH QUESTION ‘An investigation into the social process of disability through mainstream advertising, with an examination of advertising’s body ideal and what this means to the disabled audience’

DISABILITY • Disability as a social process • Psycho-emotional dimensions of disability (Thomas, 1999; Reeve, 2002) • Disability as a dramatization tool and metaphor in film/TV (Longmore, 1985; Sutherland, 1997) • ‘Hyperpresent’ in charity ads (Hevey, 1992) • Absent from commercial advertising

ADVERTISING • Advertising one of the most powerful communication systems in the world (Schroeder, 1999) • Reflective but only of certain values (Pollay, 1986) • Audience are active not passive • Marketing and Non-marketing Uses of Advertising (O’Donohoe, 1993) • Paucity of disabled people in advertising imagery and also in advertising research

KEY STUDIES • Panol & McBride (2001) • Ganahl & Arbuckle (2001) • Thomas (2001) • Hardin et. al. (2001) • Haller & Ralph (2001) • Burnett & Pallab (1996) • Hardin (2003)

DATA COLLECTION • Semi-structured in-depth Interviews • Two-stage process • Second stage to clarify and explore issues raised in the first interview • Opportunity for participants to add to what was said in first interview

ANALYSIS • Hermeneutic Circle (Thompson,1997; Quinn-Patton, 2002) • Parts to Whole • Interviews in Isolation • Look for patterns across interviews

PRELIMINARY FINDINGS • Experience of Advertising • Experience of Disability

Experience of Advertising • Participants had not connected commercial advertising and disability prior to the research • Identified advertising’s main goal as selling • Contrary to Burnett & Pallab (1996) findings • Advertising not only seen in negative light • Advertising plays various roles for participants

“As most advertising is targeted at non-disabled people, we can understand why the mobility-disabled may resent advertising and consequently find it useless” (Burnett & Pallab, 1996: 57)

Critical Interpretations (Hirschman & Thompson, 1997) “….these advertising images of beautiful people, fit people you know that goes against, the majority of the world are not like that, so I think advertising is a small group of images which really do not reflect the actual real life day-to-day experiences of people…so I think that people would be more inclined to maybe engage in it if they actually saw themselves in the ads, but I don’t think any individual never mind disabled or non-disabled can actually see themselves in advertising, because its normally people who are beautiful, or who are considered beautiful, you know,….” (Female, 30’s)

Motivational Interpretations (Hirschman & Thompson, 1997) “…does it make me feel good watching that? It does and it doesn’t cause their figures, I’ll probably say, oh yeah I’d love to lose that weight you know, just looking at them…” (Female, 32)

Basis of social interations • Between family members • Between friends • Between members of society “..cause people talk about ads, you know, did you see this ad, and you know, that interaction between people, it gets people talking, it gets people thinking, so advertising definitely has a role to play I think…..” (Male, 20’s)

Advertisers don’t consider disabled people to be consumers “….by including disabled people within the advertising, its acknowledging the fact that they have a part to play, that they are consumers and as consumers they have to be addressed and if you’re not obvious in advertising they’re sort of not included as consumers and they’re seen to be poor or whatever and they are pretty much poor or whatever, but everyone still has some money to spend on something…” (Female, 42)

Hardin et. al (2003) • Disabled people sensitive to positive integrated images of disability in ads • Disabled people would like to see advertisers include disability images • Both supported in the present study • Describe how they would like to see advertising change

“…I mean disabled people have babies and you have ads on that and all the mothers are able-bodied, they should have something like that…a disabled person with their child or whatever it would, you know, make people more aware that we can rear a family, do whatever, do everything…” (Female, 32)

Images of disability • Charity ads viewed negatively • Impairment-related product ads “…well of course from a feminist point of view, I was thinking typical they always have bloody women, you know, there wasn’t a good looking young man in a pair of shorts in a chair, it was women, but fair enough there could’ve been I just didn’t see that brochure, but no I thought it was great…” (Female, 30’s)

Experience of Disability • More complex than expected • Social model dominates • Activists versus Non-Activists “It is not that these informants are rejecting the social model in favour of the medical model, they are merely downplaying the significance of their impairments as they seek to access a mainstream identity” (Watson, 2002: 525)

CONCLUSION • Advertising used in both marketing and non-marketing sense • Critical and Motivational Interpretations of the Ideal Body • Relate to Ads on different levels • Negative Attitudes to Charity Ads • More Analysis to do……….

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‘Advertising’s Role in Disability as a Social Process’