MAM
Media and Disability: How inclusive are our TV ads?
Mumbai: In yet another reminder of why we need to look beyond the label of ‘differently abled’, Indian athletes created history, by hauling 19 medals- their best ever- including five gold, eight silver and six bronze at the recently concluded Tokyo Paralympics. In a remarkable display of bravado, the Indian Paralympic athletes contingent even surpassed their Olympian counterparts, who also had their best outing this year.
Perhaps this is the cue we need, to stop slotting people into the ‘disabled’ box, conveniently forgetting there’s a person behind the label. While this is true for all spheres of our lives, there is no dismissing the fact that mass media, such as advertising, wields the power to shift narratives around disability at a much wider and deeper level than other tools of communication. However, advertising featuring people with disabilities lags far behind, found a recently conducted study by the US-based data measurement firm, Nielson. An analysis of the firm’s Ad Intel data, that looked at nearly 4.5 lakh primetime ads on broadcast and cable TV in February 2021 found that only one per cent ads included representation of disability-related themes, visuals, or topics.
Just three per cent of ad spend went to ads featuring disabled people or that were inclusive of disability themes in the creative, the study further noted. Most of the time, disability is absent from advertising, except when it’s focused on products that treat disabilities. Rarely do ads show disabled people in everyday life, such as working, parenting, household chores or enjoying activities, said the August 2021 report titled ‘Visibility of Disability: Portrayals Of Disability In Advertising’. Pharmaceuticals, health care treatments, devices and similar categories made up nearly 50 per cent of the total dollars spent in disability-inclusive ads, the study found.
While they study is primarly based in the US, the scenario would not be very different in the Indian advertising landscape. Today, as the world takes baby steps towards a more inclusive, diverse and woke representation everywhere, advertisers have the opportunity to showcase people with disabilities in everyday life, engaging with the products and services brands offer. And it can do this simply by better reflecting the real lived experience of people with disabilities.
Some brands have managed to strike the right chord of empathy, without over-dramatising or trying to emotionally manipulate the audience. Google Photos had come out with a heartwarming real-life narrative of a visually disabled young man in 2016, who was about to undergo a corneal transplant and regain his vision after almost 15 years. The five minute film, created by Lowe Lintas, chronicled the journey of Amit Tiwari, a resident of Jhansi, who suffered from severe corneal dystrophy in both eyes, which left him almost completely blind when he was in high school. The film showed how with a little help from Google Photos’ image search and organisation features, Amit was able to rediscover all those memories he had been a part of, but missed out on seeing.
Inclusivity, however, does not mean just an increase in representation in pharmaceuticals ads but across the category spectrum. While treatment and managing care are important aspects of living with a disability, an overabundance of these types of representations can reinforce stereotypes of people with disabilities. Hence, it’s important that life with a disability is portrayed as more than just prescriptions in creatives, by showing it as more relatable, while being realistic.
The 2016 ad by KFC for the fast food company’s ‘Friendship Bucket’ managed to tick all the right boxes on this count. The ad for its Friendship Bucket, featuring a differently disabled person shows two friends sitting in a KFC restaurant communicating in sign language. The ad celebrates all ‘unique friendships’ in an adorably regular manner without much ado and with all the cheeky warmth of a true buddy, ending with a voice-over saying ‘Dost jitney alag hote hain, Friendship utni kamal ki hoti hai!‘
Nestle too came up with an endearing ad for Nescafe coffee featuring a stand-up comedian who stammers in 2015, while an ad for Birla Sun Life had woven a story around a father and his autistic son. These are people who had, till almost a few years ago, seen no representation in mainstream advertising.
When brands from a broader range of industries are more inclusive of disabilities in their creative, they help balance the narrative and normalise living with a disability. And when the ad gets it right with its intent and execution, it has an impact on all audiences, not just those living with a disability.
In recent times, JK Cement’s digital social media campaign titled ‘Yeh Yaarana Pucca Hai‘ comes to mind. The six-minute-long film takes an emotional route to deliver a strong message on the need to create an inclusive infrastructure for differently-enabled students and access quality education to all children by providing them with equal opportunities. Through this campaign, the cement brand makes an effective pitch to society that every child has the right to education and how each one of us, as responsible citizens, can ensure the same.
The campaign was launched as part of a bigger initiative ‘Banaye Har Raah Aasaan’, where JK Cement built 251 ramps in one single day in schools across Jaipur, Rajasthan on 5 August.
Hopefully, the next few years will see a much more varied and diverse representation of people belonging to all sections and from different walks of lives, so that these ads will no longer be seen as niche or exclusive, but as a part of life. However, for any communication to connect with its audience, it should either be relatable, tug at our heartstrings, jolt us from our cocooned lives, or at the least hit a chord somewhere within us. If not, it could come across as contrived or worse, as an attempt at commercialisation of a social cause.
Brands
YES Bank hands the keys to SBI veteran Vinay Tonse as it bets on a new era
Former SBI managing director appointed as YES Bank’s new MD and CEO
MUMBAI: YES Bank is done rebuilding. Now it wants to grow. The private sector lender has appointed Vinay Muralidhar Tonse as managing director and chief executive officer-designate, with RBI approval secured and a start date of April 6, 2026 confirmed. The three-year term signals the bank’s intent to shift gears from crisis recovery to full-throttle expansion.
Tonse, 60, is no stranger to scale. Most recently managing director at State Bank of India, he oversaw a retail book of roughly $800bn in deposits and advances, one of the largest in the country. Before that, he ran SBI Mutual Fund from August 2020 to December 2022, a stint that saw assets under management surge from Rs 4.32 lakh crore to Rs 7.32 lakh crore across market cycles. Add stints in Singapore and four years leading SBI’s overseas operations in Osaka, and the incoming chief arrives with a genuinely global CV.
His academic grounding is equally solid: a commerce degree from St Joseph’s College of Commerce, Bengaluru, and a master’s in commerce from Bangalore University.
The appointment follows an extensive search and evaluation process by the bank’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee. NRC chairperson Nandita Gurjar said the committee unanimously backed Tonse, citing his leadership track record, governance credentials and ability to drive the bank’s next phase of transformation.
Non-executive chairman Rama Subramaniam Gandhi was unequivocal. “I am certain that Vinay Tonse, with his vast experience as a senior banker, will propel YES Bank to its next phase of growth,” Gandhi said, adding that the bank remains focused on strengthening its retail and corporate banking franchises and expanding its branch network.
Rajeev Kannan, non-executive director and senior executive at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, the bank’s largest shareholder, said Tonse’s experience across retail, corporate banking, global markets and asset management positioned him well to lead the lender. SMBC said it looks forward to working with Tonse and the board as YES Bank pursues its ambition of becoming a top-tier private sector lender anchored in strong governance and sustainable growth.
Tonse succeeds Prashant Kumar, who took the helm in March 2020 when YES Bank was in freefall following a severe financial crisis, and spent six years painstakingly stabilising the institution, rebuilding governance and restoring operational scale. Gandhi was generous: “The bank remains indebted to Prashant Kumar, who is responsible for much of what a strong financial powerhouse YES Bank is today.”
Tonse, for his part, struck a purposeful note. “Together with the board and my colleagues, I remain deeply committed to creating long-term value for all our stakeholders,” he said, pledging to build on Kumar’s foundation guided by his personal motto: Make A Difference.
Beyond the balance sheet, Tonse played cricket at college and club level and represented Karnataka in archery at the national championships — sports he credits with teaching him teamwork, situational leadership, discipline and focus. In quieter moments, he reaches for retro Kannada music, classic Hindi songs, and the crooning of Engelbert Humperdinck, Mukesh and Kishore Kumar.
YES Bank has its steady-handed rebuilder in Kumar to thank for survival. Now it has a scale-obsessed growth banker at the wheel. The next chapter starts April 6.
