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Channel 4 ads show viewers what it’s like to live with sight loss conditions

The broadcaster teamed up with the Royal National Institute of Blind People to screen adverts with special visual filters.
The broadcaster teamed up with the Royal National Institute of Blind People to screen adverts with special visual filters. The broadcaster teamed up with the Royal National Institute of Blind People to screen adverts with special visual filters.

Channel 4 showed four adverts through the eyes of people with various sight loss conditions on Monday night.

Adverts from five companies, including Specsavers, Paco Rabanne, O2 and Amazon Echo were broadcast with filters that show how people with cataracts and diabetes, amongst other diseases, experience the world around them.

The films were made in partnership with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) and were shown at 9:15pm and 9:30pm, during breaks in documentary The Undateables, which follows the love lives of disabled people.

The adverts recreated the experiences of people with macular degeneration, which affects central vision, hemianopia, when half of vision is lost, and the characteristically blurry vision caused by cataracts.

Sophie Castell, director at RNIB, said the one-off ads would “help show viewers different sight loss conditions and what living with sight loss can be like”.

“The use of audio description across an entire ad break marks a cultural shift in advertising,” she said.

The ads were accompanied by an audio description, allowing those with limited sight to experience the modified videos as well.

This also coincides with National Eye Health Week, which runs from September 18-24, to promote regular eye tests.