Royal National Institute of Blind People's 'Nice List' Celebrates Brand's Accessible Christmas Ads

Leading sight loss charity the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is donning its Father Christmas hat to celebrate brands who have made the nice list for creating Christmas adverts with accessibility in mind.

Brands including Amazon, Sainsbury’s, John Lewis, Waitrose, Tesco, Marks & Spencer clothing advert, Virgin Media, Aldi, Morrison’s, Haleon and TK Maxx have all added audio description (AD) to their Christmas offerings this year, allowing the 350,000 people who are registered blind or partially sighted in the UK to enjoy the adverts at the same time as their sighted friends and family.

AD, a spoken description of the visuals happening on screen to help viewers with sight loss follow a programme or film, is one of the key ways that advertisers can make their content accessible. It’s a simple but effective tool that can be included on visually led adverts, which would otherwise be inaccessible. The other way to ensure adverts are accessible is for brands to think about this when production starts and integrate accessibility into their creative process.

With Christmas adverts such a big part of the lead up to the festive period and creating conversations on social media, in the workplace and schools, RNIB is highlighting how inaccessible adverts can exclude blind and partially sighted people. 

Sonali Rai, broadcaster and audio description manager at RNIB, said, “Every year there is a lot of excitement around what creative and magical adverts retailers have to offer in the lead up to Christmas. Everyone should be able to enjoy these adverts, and we’re delighted to see so many big brands keeping blind and partially sighted people in mind with their festive adverts.

“When the festivities are over, the need for inclusion doesn’t stop. We need advertisers to commit to creating accessible adverts all year round. It benefits brands too, by making their sales and products accessible to the two million people living with sight loss in the UK.”

ADTEXT create audio description, subtitles, closed and open captions for adverts that ensure content is accessible to those living with sight loss, hearing loss and other disabilities. They’ve played a crucial role in ensuring brands have made their Christmas adverts accessible for blind and partially sighted people.

June Johnson, managing director at ADTEXT, said, "Helping advertisers adopt socially inclusive television and online advertising is always a source of pride at ADTEXT, but when called on to work on their brilliant Christmas campaigns, we can add delight. These commercials add considerably to the sense of excitement of the season, and it is wonderful to see so many advertisers demonstrating they really do care.”