Paralympics: Opportunities and lessons for brands

Organisers have sold the broadcasting rights for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games to a record 160 nations and territories. The event, which takes place between August 28 and September 8, will see more than 4,000 athletes from around the world competing in 22 sports across 549 medal events.

According to Nielsen, interest in the Paralympics has more than doubled in the last eight years. The Tokyo 2020 Paralympics reached a record 4.1 billion cumulative viewers, a milestone that will likely be surpassed during this year’s Paris Paralympics.

"Clearly, media outlets are recognising the Paralympics as a strong investment opportunity, this is supported by the 20% increase in broadcasting media rights sales compared to Tokyo 2020," says Aaron Jansen, head of performance at Bench Media. "Given this unprecedented reach, it is highly probable that ad sales for the event will be record breaking. Brands are eager to capitalise on this expanded viewership, recognising the value and impact of engaging with such a diverse and significant audience."

Year-round commitment

Advertising during the Paralympics offers a unique opportunity for brands to demonstrate their commitment to social responsibility and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). From featuring disabled athletes in advertisements to initiatives that promote products or services that enhance accessibility, there’s a real opportunity to increase much-needed representation.

"It’s most important, however, that brands not just talk the talk—but walk the walk," says Alexandra Saab Bjertnæs, chief strategy officer at Meltwater. "This means actively demonstrating genuine support versus surface-level commitments. By consistently creating authentic campaigns and taking concrete actions year-round, brands can contribute to a more inclusive society, fostering awareness and understanding."

Several brands are at the forefront of promoting inclusion, as evidenced by the conversation spikes around their initiatives, according to Meltwater. Airbnb, for example, focuses its partnership with Paralympians on the accessible homes of disabled athletes. By collaborating with para-athletes Axel Allétru and Sofyane Mehiaoui to offer accessible homes during the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Airbnb not only raises awareness about the need for universal accessibility but also drives real change by providing inclusive travel options.

 

Another standout is Toyota’s 'Mobility for All' campaign, which underscores their commitment to accessibility in transportation. It was launched in conjunction with Toyota’s sponsorship of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and focuses on the development of vehicles and technologies that cater to all needs, including those with disabilities, the elderly, and others facing mobility challenges. 

This isn’t a ‘niche’ market

The WHO estimates that 1.3 billion people—or 16% of the global population—experience a significant disability today. And according to the 2022 Valuable Truth Report, people with disabilities and their allies have over $13 trillion in disposable income, making them a significant and influential consumer base.

"People with disabilities are not the only audience for communications featuring people with disabilities, and the more brands that wake up to this the better," says Oliver Wilson, strategy director at Ogilvy Sydney. "The Paralympics is a great opportunity for brands to reach an extremely broad and voluminous audience that is already engaging with this content, and to tell compelling stories that not only help increase inclusivity in communications but cut through & engage consumers."

Moreover, the Paralympic fan base is an active community. Meltwater's analysis demonstrates this, with the @paralympics account scoring the highest engagement per post at 45k, surpassing the @olympics and @paris2024 accounts. This level of engagement is a testament to the energy that the Paralympic community brings, making it an exciting market to be a part of.

"Increasingly, brands are recognising the opportunity and increasing their Paralympic activation, understanding the value it holds," says Shane O’ Sullivan, manager director at Prism Sport + Entertainment, a division of VML. "However, some brands are missing out by not fully leveraging their Paralympic sponsorship rights and not extracting the maximum value from their partnerships. First-time brands and their consumers will easily see the transformative power that this partnership brings, and how momentum continues with ongoing disability inclusion beyond the games."

A launchpad for ongoing inclusion

Disabled people remain among the most under-represented in advertising. Almost 20% of the population globally identify as living with some form of disability, both visible and invisible, yet only 1% are seen on our screens and in our mainstream advertisements.

While representation remains shamefully low, the few times disabled people do feature in ads, it often panders to lazy portrayals that perpetuate harmful stereotypes.

Last year, former Paralympian and basketball player Dylan Alcott launched Shift 20 initiative, a major project that worked with ten of Australia's best known brands with an overall aim to normalise disabled people in advertising. 

"We don’t want to be objects of pity and we don’t only want to be seen as objects of inspiration. For example, from the hospital bed to the Paralympic podium," says Alcott. "We just want to be normal."

According to Alcott, the best way for brands to represent disabled people in advertising is to show them doing normal things. 

"We want to shift perceptions so that when society thinks of disabled people, they don’t only think of gold medal Paralympians or someone in an accident, they see a person, just like them," says Alcott. "The only way we can start to do this is by showing people with disability doing normal things; ordering a Maccas, opening a bank account, going to work, wearing undies—as you cannot be what you cannot see."

One great example of a disability advert done right is the Channel 4 ad for the 2020 Paralympics called Super. Humans. Rather than perpetuate the usual 'inspiration porn' trope, it portrays disabled athletes being, not superheroes, but rather as regular humans.

 

It's clear that Channel 4 took onboard the criticism it received from the disabled community for its 2012 Paralympics ad 'Meet the Superhumans' for too easily slipping into the 'inspiration porn' category. Therefore, for the 2020 ad they consulted more disabled people in the creative and production process, included ordinary as well as outstanding disabled athletes, and purposefully used a full stop to separate the phrases ‘Super’ and ‘Human’.

"Brands definitely need to do a better job representing people with disabilities in all their ads, not just during the Paralympics," says Sarah Wood, managing director at SLIK. "It's really important to get input from people with real-life experience at every step of the creative and production process. We teamed up with para-athletes and accessibility consultants to get valuable insights and make sure that digital accessibility was a key part of Paralympics Australia’s virtual fundraising event."

And, of course, the Paralympics can and should be a launchpad for brands communicating about people with disabilities all year round, instead of once every four years. 

"It opens the door for brands to continue following athlete’s stories and journeys beyond the games," says Wilson. "It’s also an opportunity for brands to reflect on their communications throughout the year and assess whether they’re not only including people with disabilities in their communications, but communicating with these audiences effectively and respectfully—inclusive of, and beyond the sporting context."