Guinness on Handicapped Equality
Last month, Guinness came out with a unique beer commercial. Rather than a commercial portraying beautiful, young woman, it flips the switch by presenting a group of athletic, beer-drinking men who are defined as much by their kindness as their physical strength. Guinness managed to put a positive spin on disability, portraying people with disabilities as having just as much fun with good friends as people without disabilities.
As the men partake in an intense game of wheelchair basketball, there is soothing and emotional music playing in the background, which sounds very inspiring to viewers. The ad starts off with a ball being shot at the hoop, we do not see who shot it. I automatically assumed that it was likely someone without a disability shooting because most athletes are not disabled. After I saw who was playing, I right away immediately assumed they were all disabled because they were all putting in an equal amount of effort and all in wheelchairs. The ad does not point out who the actual disabled player is until most of the men stand up after the game, except for one who remains in his wheelchair. This revealed that they were using the chairs to include a friend who has a physical disability. There is no audience; they are not looking for accolades. They are simplyenjoying fellow athletes on the same level.
Society has often created a stereotype of people in wheelchairs to be as weak, fragile, and incapable. The men are playing very physically, and it forces viewers to immediately erase the stereotype of people in wheelchairs being fragile. One of the men even falls to his side in the wheelchair and gets back up on his own. He is independent and doesn’t need help or recognition from others around him. They are seen as strong rather than weak. The men in the ad are all generally attractive men and are of different races to