Commercials That Do Not Tell All

It has always been a standard practice for advertisers to create and produce commercials that are glitzy, flashy, and commercials that are packed with lots of visual effects.  For after all, these are the ones that more often than not bring in the big bucks to all involved.  All well and good for those who are able to appreciate the visual effects, but what about for those who are not able to enjoy all of this?  Those who are blind, vision impaired, and those who have difficulty viewing TV screens?

 

Very often, when I am sitting down to watch or rather listen to some TV programs, I have difficulty understanding many of the commercials because there is not enough audio description for me to be able to fully grasp the content and meaning of the commercial in question.  Certain sounds within a commercial often give me a hint as to what it is all about but at the end of it all, I am still missing some important pieces to complete the picture.  For example; the commercial with noises of a family eating dinner, then I hear noises, but there is nothing to tell me what is happening in between.

 

Recently, I came across a commercial of a little girl asking if she could burst open a piñata.  When her mom said yes, I heard the noise of the piñata being burst open followed by someone spitting out something.  However, what I missed was this:  There was a picture of the face of the father's mother on the front of the piñata and the sound of someone spitting out something was that of the father when he saw his mother's face on the front of the piñata.  Finally, the mother-in-law herself was also in the room but her back was turned so she missed seeing her own face on the front of the piñata.  

 

I hope that somehow, producers of commercials will be able to find away to inject more audio content into their commercials.  It will not just benefit those with vision difficulties; the blind, the vision impaired, and those with learning difficulties, it would also benefit those with cognitive disabilities as well.

 

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and urging you to go out there and tell others that commercials need to be made more accommodating to those who are Blind, vision impaired, plus others.

To learn more, visit www.rnib.org.