It’s been over a decade since Channel 4’s landmark Meet the Superhumans campaign for the Paralympics. Tasked with addressing the public’s lack of awareness and indifference to the games, the ad was celebrated not only for bringing disability into popular culture but for doing so with a sense of fun.

Since then, attitudes towards disability representation have moved on a huge amount, with ads that lean into the ‘superpower’ narrative often receiving criticism for being reductive. “We wrestled with the term ‘superhuman’ four years ago. There wasn’t a great big conversation this time around. It really felt like a very natural thing to do to step away from it,” says 4creative’s outgoing ECD Lynsey Atkin.

“It’s also the law of threes: three is a lovely number, and we’d had the progression with Meet the Superhumans, We’re the Superhumans and Super. Human,” she continues. “So from a creative point of view, it felt like a neat trilogy of work and also the responsibility of Channel 4 to move the conversation on.”

Ahead of the 2024 Paralympics in Paris, a piece of research commissioned by the broadcaster unearthed the key insight that nearly 60% of people said they watch the Paralympic Games to “see athletes overcoming their disabilities”, compared to just 37% for “exciting sporting competition”.

“What that word ‘overcoming’ does is it perpetuates the idea that disability is a problem rather than the fact that the problems and equalities associated with disability are created. So it feels really patronising but it also feels really ableist,” says Atkin.

Created in collaboration with disability led inclusion agency Purple Goat for the first time, the resulting campaign depicts Paralympians taking on the impassionate elements and unchangeable forces of our world that make no exception for any athlete, regardless of someone’s disability.

The two-minute film personifies these unchangeable forces as a series of characters, including Gravity as a shirtless man taunting and cackling as he clutches a pint of beer in his armchair; Friction as an abrasive boy-racer doing donuts; and Lady Time as an onlooker in the crowd with stopwatch in hand.

Having shown Paralympic athletes including Aaron Phipps, Sarah Storey and Emmanuel Oyinbo-Coker doing battle with the elements, the spot turns its attention to some viewers’ well-intentioned but misguided perceptions, with comments such as ‘he’s incredible for someone like that’ and ‘she’s doing so well, considering’.

“It was quite a difficult brief, because we want to be really celebratory of sport and the games and all of those things, but we also want to turn the lens on the audience and gently question preconceived notions or misinformed attitudes,” says Atkin.

To help them find the right balance, 4creative enlisted the help of director Steve Rogers, who is well-known for his work with brands such as John Lewis, Hornbach and Old Spice.

“Getting the tone right would be so critical, and that’s why someone like Steve, who is one of the best in the world with people and performance, was such a great guy for the job,” she says. “The idea was always to shoot sport like drama, so that’s why hopefully it feels very cinematic.”

The film is supported by a nationwide OOH campaign launching in August, where well-meaning but patronising phrases are corrected by the physicality of the sports themselves, and a mural  by artist Florence Burns, whose practice is informed by her personal experience of invisible respiratory disabilities.

Credits:
Agency: 4creative
Executive Creative Director: Lynsey Atkin
Creative Directors: Andy Vasey and Dan Warner
Creatives (OOH): Stuart Gittings and Reuben Dangoor
Head of Design: Rob Boon
Senior Designer: Aimi Awang
Designer: Dan Davies
Senior Planner, Strategy & Consumer Insight: James Hamilton
Brand Planner: Thomas Schofield
Creative Diversity & Disability Lead: Ally Castle @ Ideally Consulting ltd
Disability-led inclusive marketing agency: Dom Hyams (Client Director) and Dani Roberts (Campaigns Director) @ Purple Goat
Production Company: Biscuit Filmworks UK X Revolver
Director: Steve Rogers
Director of Photography: Daniel Landin
Production Designer: John Henson
1st AD: Ben Gill
Casting Director: Hannah Birkett
Editing Company: Work Editorial
Post Production: Time Based Arts
Mural artist: Florence Burns