Are you brave enough to back the Superhumans?
As Usain Bolt lines his substantial coffers with more ad dollars for old rope, Mumbrella editor Alex Hayes argues its time for advertisers to be brave and back athletes who have shown the most bravery of all, our Paralympians.
“It makes me sick to my tummy”. Those were the words of cricketer Ed Cowan when he heard what one of Australia’s foremost Paralympic athletes has to go through to get enough funding to train and buy equipment.
And those words struck a chord with me.
Why are we bombarded with endless ads telling us all about Usain Bolt’s training history and back story – as told to us so far this year by Optus, Gatorade, Virgin Media, Nissan, Puma and All Nippon Airways. They’re the ones I could find from a very quick Google search.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b03jWW70kc
Wow, that 2016 Rio version is fucking beautiful! Best thing I’ve seen in a long time. Got a lil bit misty-eyed at my desk. Just…WOW!
I couldn’t agree more. I coach AWD (Athletes With Disabilities) in table tennis. Many have the talent and drive to reach the Paralympics but there is just not the money to back them.
What I would like to emphasise is that these are real athletes who are very competitive. Many compete in open events as well. Melissa Tapper from Victoria is the first Australian to compete in both the Olympics and the Paralympics. ‘Milly’ is just one of many who train hard in the sport that they love.
It would be great if more companies would be willing to get behind our Paralympians in all sports, as well as supporting the wider AWD community.
JV
I have the opportunity to work with Lynne and her staff on the team launch earlier this year. I have worked in sport for more than 20 years and I have never heard two better public speakers than team captains, Daniela Di Toro and Kurt Fearnley. Their passion for the team and their strength of character were truly inspiring, they could motivate any senior leadership group or workforce.
I look forward to watching Seven’s coverage, they will do a great job of telling the athletes incredible stories and hopefully there will be plenty of Australian gold medal moments.
Lynne and her team are planning to build the commercial program. I think they have a great plan to grow their movement and hopefully there are companies prepared to join them on the journey, I know it will be worth it.
‘Brave’ errrrrrrrrgh fark, paaaahlease. As a person with a disability, and former athlete with a disability, you need to understand that as soon as you label me/us ‘brave’, you demean us. I’ve had my disability my whole life, I’m not brave, I just live and get on with shit.
As for arguing that athletes with a disability should gain more attention, and sponsorship because of their ‘back story’, that is utterly demeaning. The only athletes who deserve the genuine interest from the sporting world, and big sponsorships, are people who (a) draw big crowds/TV audiences, and (b) are seriously good at what they do.
Focusing on the ‘human interest’ angle, or their ‘back story’ will diminish the genuine achievements of disabled athletes, and relegate them back to getting pats on the head for ‘having a go’.
I have vomit in my mouth
Darren, right now there’s next to no interest in your sports. And if there is any reaction, it is of the ‘oh, that’s nice’ kind from the general population.
Bravery may or may not come into it, but there are a range of human emotions that tell these stories. And that’s what people connect with. Emotion.
Darren – assuming your ‘back story’ as you described is 100% true, that’s an amazing comment and hopefully a sobering one for the misty-eyed, able-bodied readers of this article. I applaud you, sir.