Considering What?

Channel 4’s Paris 2024 Paralympic Games campaign challenges patronising attitudes. British broadcaster Channel 4 has unveiled its Paris 2024 Paralympic Games campaign film titled "Considering What?"

“Considering What?”, is created by Channel 4’s multi-award-winning in-house agency, 4creative, and asks the viewing public to reconsider their preconceptions of Paralympic greatness. The film captures the reactions of people as they watch Paralympic sport which, although well intentioned, are misguided and don’t appreciate Paralympians for what they are – world class athletes.

The campaign comes after research, commissioned by Channel 4, showed that nearly 60 percent of people said they watch the Paralympic Games to “see athletes overcoming their disabilities” whereas just 37 percent say they watch the Paralympics for “exciting sporting competition”.

Rather than showing the athletes “overcoming their disabilities”, the film depicts Paralympians taking on and overcoming forces such as gravity, friction and time – the impassionate elements and unchangeable forces of our world – that make no exception for any athlete, regardless of someone’s disability.

The campaign is the first since Channel 4 won the UK broadcast rights to the Paralympics which will not feature the term ‘Superhumans’.

Supporting the TV campaign is a nationwide out of home campaign, where well-meaning but patronising phrases are corrected by the physicality of the Paralympic sports themselves.

The film brings the elements to life, personifying Gravity as an odious, shirtless man clutching a pint of beer, taunting and cackling at Paralympic wheelchair rugby star Aaron Phipps in his living room. Items around the living room begin to ‘fall’ to the ceiling as Gravity toys with the Paralympian before making Phipps ‘fall’ to the ceiling where his face smacks into the floor and the scene changes to show him in the middle of a wheelchair rugby match.

- Sport Doesn’t Care About Disability

- Gravity Doesn’t Care About Disability

- Friction Doesn’t Care About Disability

- Time Doesn’t Care About Disability

- Wind Doesn’t Care About Disability

- Heat Doesn’t Care About Disability

- Force Doesn’t Care About Disability

- Sport Doesn’t Care About Disability

The full film is 2 minute 20 seconds but there will cut down version of 60, 40 and 20 seconds, as well as some six second version for social media.

ParalympicsGB athletes to star in the campaign include Aaron Phipps, Dame Sarah Storey, Emmanuel Oyinbo-Coker, Joseph Lane, Emma Wiggs, Olivia Broome and Alfie Hewett.

It is supported by an out of home campaign, a series of striking posters (see attached) featuring Paralympians Justine Moore, Gemma Collins (fencing); Mark Swan (powerlifting); Harri Jenkins, Fay West and Nick Cummins (wheelchair rugby); and Kare Adenegan (wheelchair racing). The out of home campaign goes live on 12 August across the UK.