'There's nothing brave about running 100m' – changing the 'bullshit' Paralympics vocab

Campaign podcast

"Language is everything" in advertising, particularly for the Paralympics.

Channel 4's "Considering what?" campaign frames Paralympians as world-class athletes rather than competitors "overcoming" their disabilities. The International Paralympic Committee's “They’re not playing games” left messages on social media from the Paris Paralympic 2024 athletes saying “I won’t be participating at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games” to then reveal that they will be "competing".

This year's advertising sees a movement to correctly represent the athletic and sporting champions in the Paralympics games, kicking the "well-meant bullshit" out of its vocabulary.

Going behind the scenes of these campaigns and discussing what has changed in the media for the Paris 2024 Paralympics, we speak to:

Lynsey Atkin, outgoing executive creative director of Channel 4’s in-house agency 4Creative;

Tom Ghiden, managing director of Joan London;

Craig Spence, chief brand and communications officer at the IPC

This episode was hosted by Campaign's tech editor Lucy Shelley.

Further reading:

Why brands need to stop talking about ‘overcoming’ disabilities

Paralympians challenge perceptions in campaign ahead of Paris Games

Channel 4 cuts the ‘well-meant bullshit’ in 2024 Paralympic campaign

Pick of the Week: Channel 4 takes home gold in 2024 Paralympic campaign

Orange “When you love sport, you love sport” by Publicis Conseil

Paralympics 2024 round-up: watch the ads

Channel 4 in Paralympic ads deal with TikTok

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