Bond & Bond will this week begin airing a 15-second TV commercial that features a "blind" man.  In the very short advert, the actor uses his white cane to quickly compare the size of televisions, and he loves the biggest one.

The advertising agency that did the creative work contacted the Foundation in mid-June, which was much appreciated.  The Foundation always wants to offer our input as early in the piece as possible.

What we liked about the advert was:

It shows the blind man shopping independently for a big screen television  

By linking a blind person to a sighted medium like television, it does "grab" the public's attention, but this also reflects a reality than many people don’t understand – that blind, deafblind and vision-impaired people do indeed watch TV.  And bigger screens are indeed better for many members.

The initial script called for the actor to use a white cane and a guide dog, which of course would not be realistic.  The agency agreed to change this and made other amendments when Foundation staff attended the shooting of the commercial on 23 June.

While the final product may not be totally realistic, by having a blind man "size up" various televisions using a white cane, the TV commercial paints a positive picture of the blind consumer and knocks down a stereotype, as per the points above.  This is all good, and so is the fact that the agency gave us a chance to comment early on.

Following is a description of the TV commercial:

Close up showing the front top corner of a television and the tip of a white cane, which is being held by someone standing behind the television. This person is out of focus. 

The cane taps the side of the TV and then moves across the top, from our right to our left, and then to a larger television.  We are only seeing the top of the televisions, which are showing blue sky.

The camera pans back and you see the "blind man" standing behind three televisions, the smallest on our right and the largest on our left. All televisions are showing an iconic image of green hills in front of snow-capped mountains. 

The blind man is handsome and in his 30s, dressed in a dark polo shirt and wearing cool sunglasses.  He side steps behind the televisions as he taps them with his cane to see how big they are.  Behind him, facing away, is a woman wearing a red top. She is looking at a wall of televisions of different sizes.  Each TV is showing the same iconic New Zealand image.  A salesman carrying a new video recorder or perhaps a DVD in a box walks up and talks to the woman.

The blind man continues to move sideways, to our left, as he taps the side and then the top of the third television, which is the biggest.  

A Bond & Bond logo pops up in the bottom of the screen as the announcer makes his sales pitch.  The blind customer gets a very big grin on his face. He steps forward and puts his right hand on top of the big television… his big television.