Learning articles

Many of your audience members, visitors or employees will experience difficulty in reading printed documentation. There are many different reasons for this, including:

Difference in language use i.e. people with dyslexia may read or write some phrases differently; someone whose first language is not English will have some different interpretations and some Deaf people whose use of English will also be slightly different.
Age-related issues may make reading difficult for some
Minimal formal education
Mild intellectual disability
Varying visual impairments

Our ambition for the industry is for all advertisers to consider accessibility when briefing to drive towards an Accessible AV advertising ecosystem by June 2024. To support this objective Flock Associates in association with ISBA have produced this guidance to share learnings, ideas and initiatives from other brands that have already started their accessibility journey.

Our previous two guides (Representation of a Nation & Evolution of Representation) have been pivotal in supporting successful Brands to drive the necessary changes to embrace and embed authentic representation across the advertising industry. They both provide practical and actionable guidance on how to start the journey to become more diverse & inclusive in an authentic way (not tick boxing). Whilst there has been a positive focus onto Diversity, Equality & Inclusion over the last few years in media it has not gone far enough. Although many brands now portray more representation in their advertising, to date, very little has been done to ensure that all adverts are accessible to every audience. It is important for advertisers to have front of mind that it is not possible to be inclusive until everyone is included.

Best Practice in audio description - P&G

Whether it’s getting more traffic to your site, more customers in the door, or promoting services, advertising aims to expand your company’s reach.

The best way to influence potential customers is through advertising, a growing and bustling industry. The sector predicts that U.S. ad industry revenue will grow by 2.6% this year, reaching a record-high $352 billion.

Even with this in mind, some businesses still miss the mark by not being inclusive and accessible in their advertisements. By excluding certain demographics, you limit your audience, which is counterproductive to the overall mission.

Meta advertiser tools are built for everyone to use, and ads should be accessible by people who have impaired vision or hearing. For an ad to be accessible, it should be created in a way that can be understood regardless of someone's physical ability to see or hear it.

People living with visual or audial impairments use screen readers to navigate Facebook, Instagram and other social platforms. When an ad is created thoughtfully with accessibility in mind, screen readers can better understand your ad creative, text and CTA, making them more meaningful to a global audience.