Since last week's launch of our Autism Awareness campaign, the dialogue on speaking about autism has begun. In response to some of your posts, our client, Autism Speaks does recognize that autism is a spectrum of disorders and that some individuals are higher functioning than others. One goal of this PSA campaign is to reduce the stigma associated with all autism spectrum disorders by drawing attention to the fact that autism is more common than people think. We appreciate your comments.
Autism
To hear from mothers and grandmothers how they watched in horror as their beautiful, verbal and loving toddlers withdrew into their own world that was now devoid of emotion and language, seemingly overnight, is to share their enormous pain. Those are the stories Alison Singer and Suzanne Wright of Autism Speaks shared with us as we began working together on the Autism Awareness campaign that launches today. Who wouldn’t want to help?
Incredibly, 1 in 166 children are diagnosed with Autism today. This startling statistic provided a key insight for the creative team at BBDO New York who developed this campaign pro bono. They learned when parents knew how prevalent Autism is, they were motivated to learn their children’s developmental milestones to recognize early warning signs. And early intervention has proven to help.
You can view these PSAs: “Broadway”, “Baseball” and “Car Seat” which utilize images of toddlers and contrasts their odds of starring on Broadway, playing professional baseball or being injured in a car accident –in the tens or hundreds of thousands to one – with the odds of being diagnosed with Autism. The PSAs also created for radio, print and the internet; provide a website and 800# to learn more.
The campaign will benefit from the support of Autism Speaks founders Bob and Suzanne Wright (Chairman and CEO,NBC/Universal). But I’m sure the prevalence of this issue, coupled with the wonderful creative will attract wide donated media support.
What makes me so sure? What we discovered is the number of people who have been touched by Autism. Throughout the campaign’s development, we learned of children of the Agency Creative Team, The Ad Council Staff and many, many more people with relatives or friends who have received a diagnosis of Autism. And when they understand the pain this disease causes, who wouldn’t want to help?
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