Watch the full ad here:

Sam's thoughts:

"In the anchor ad, “New Boyfriend” we see Disabled actor Storme Toolis’ character telling her two friends about the first time she had sex with her new boyfriend and the awkward situation that occurs when she experiences a spasm. She hilariously illustrates this using a packet of Maltesers. It’s funny, relatable and at that time (and even now!) felt very new. It was exciting to see a Disabled woman being presented like this and it certainly grabbed the audiences’ attention.

The campaign led to a 8.1% uplift in sales for the brand whilst it was on air; for context their target was 4%. On Youtube, the campaign broke over two million views within the first 24 hours of launch and brand affinity rose by 20%. That’s some serious spending power of Disabled People, and non Disabled People, that Maltesers benefited from. Research also found that 59% of people had an improved perception of disability after having seen the ad, so it created societal change too.

Whilst the campaign was a success for the brand, unfortunately the Disabled People featured (there were a total of three ads created as part of the campaign) received a lot of online abuse mocking their disabilities and using incredibly hurtful ableist slurs. My friend Sam Renke who featured in the “Dance Floor” ad wrote about her experience and the negative impact it had on her. The campaign was also one of the Advertising Standards Association’s most complained about campaigns in 2016, receiving complaints suggesting it was offensive to Disabled People. The complaints were not upheld and, if anything, all of this proves that we need to see more Disabled People featured authentically in all the different ways we tell stories through advertising, both to educate the audience and to normalise seeing Disabled People on our screens.

So in the next 70 years of advertising what brands will be next to use the spending power of Disabled People by featuring us in their campaigns? I hope we won’t be able to choose one example to feature as there will be too many!"