Some heart-warming news from the world of advertising today! The U.K. clothing company Marks and Spencers will be airing their first Christmas commercial featuring a learning disabled child. Caroline White posted a picture of her 4-year-old son with Downs Syndrome, Seb, on the store's Facebook page pointing out that there are few disabled children featured in advertising.
The company noticed the amount of responses agreeing with Caroline's post and responded in the best way possible: They had Seb come in for a Christmas catalog photoshoot where he exceeded everyone's expectations.
It's about time that special needs children are given a fair chance to appear in ads. After all, advertising should be promoting diversity to the public and not alienating part of their audience. This was a good move on their behalf because it IS so rare to see special needs kids in print ads or TV commercials.
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Steven Sharp, the executive director of marketing for the brand, said that regardless of his disability, Seb proved himself to be a star and was a natural on camera. Seb even had a brush with a big star as the commercial shot was directed by Jake Nava, most famous for shooting Beyonce's "Single Ladies" music video. Who knows maybe he'll make a cameo in the diva's next video!
And while the clothing line's fans are loving the new change, Mencap, a learning disability charity, is praising them for using Seb in their promotion. Seb's mom especially deserves praise for standing up for disabled children and fought for them to have more opportunities.
I'm sure this will be the gateway for other children with disabilities who are frequently discriminated against to have many options presented to them. Once a big wig company such as Marks and Spencers opens the doors to diversity, other businesses will want to catch on too. I can't wait to see where else little Seb appears and I look forward to seeing his appearance on the tube!
Embedded content: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nvtQslFoTOw
Image via YouTube
