National broadcaster Channel 4 has this week announced that Vanish and creative agency Havas London have won its prestigious Diversity in Advertising Award, securing £1 million-worth of advertising airtime across its portfolio.
The award aims to encourage brands to tackle the lack of authentic portrayals of disabled people within advertising, and is now in its seventh year.
Havas London’s spot for cleaning product Vanish was created in partnership with charity Ambitious about Autism, hoping to help give girls greater visibility and broaden the wider public’s understanding of the disability.
“After one of the most competitive shortlisting and pitch processes we’ve ever had for the Diversity in Advertising Award, Vanish has been crowned a very worthy winner. We’re incredibly excited to see the creative idea come to life and see it on air,” Channel 4 chief revenue officer, Verica Djurdjevic said.
“It’s vital we continue to encourage authentic representation through advertising and we thank all the brands for their participation in the awards so far to help us on this journey.”
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The winning spot was selected from a shortlist of seven, with a VCCP campaign for LinkedIn receiving special commendation alongside £350,000 of advertising airtime.
Havas Creative UK group CEO, Xavier Rees added: “This is a particularly special award to win. Improving Diversity & Inclusion within our agency and our industry remains one of our biggest priorities here at Havas.
“It will be a privilege to partner with Reckitt, one of our largest clients, to spark a much-needed public conversation around autism in girls; a subject that’s incredibly close to my heart.”
