Mars Wins £1m Of Channel 4 Paralympic Adverts
Mars Chocolate UK has secured £1m of free advertising from Channel 4 with its new Malteasers campaign, as part of its ‘Superhumans Wanted’ prize.
Channel 4 revealed in April that it would stake £1m of its commercial airtime as a prize to encourage brands and media and creative agencies to prominently feature disability and disabled talent in their advertising campaigns.
Launched as part of Channel 4’s Year of Disability, the £1m Superhumans Wanted prize is awarded to the strongest campaign idea, with the advert given an exclusive launch spot in the first break of the 2016 Rio Paralympics Games Opening Ceremony on Wednesday 7th September.
Channel 4 selected Mars and creative agency AMV BBDO from 90 entries, with the collection of three adverts titled, ‘Look on the Light Side’ starring four disabled actors celebrating awkward situations, such as embarrassing moments with new boyfriends and bad behaviour at weddings.
The 30-second scenes are based on real-life stories from disabled people and each features actors interacting with a packet of Malteasers.
Michele Oliver, vice president of marketing at Mars Chocolate UK, said: “As one of the UK’s biggest advertisers, we have a responsibility and a role to play in reflecting diversity in everyday media. This is a first step for us.”
Channel 4 sales director Jonathan Allan added: “The calibre of competition entries demonstrated that the UK ad industry can be world-leading in improving representation of disability in advertising.”
