Superhuman or super athletes?

The biggest, boldest and most anticipated Paralympics in history starts tomorrow. With more athletes than ever before, 150 hours of live coverage, and a feverish demand for tickets, 2012 looks set to be the year the games go stratospheric.

But how did an event which has been too often undersold, under-promoted and undervalued, achieve the fanfare it deserves? Just what has brought about this shift in public consciousness?

Hosting the games in London has certainly helped. We Brits love an occasion and the Queen’s jubilee celebrations, and Olympic ‘warm up’ helped to get us – and the watching world – in the mood.

But the hype started long before, in the offices of Channel 4, where creative bods sketched out ways to whet our appetite and propel the 2012 games from the sidelines to the glare of centre stage.

It was a tough brief. When Channel 4 won the broadcast bid, only 14 per cent of the population said it was looking forward to the Paralympics and virtually no-one could name a Paralympian athlete.

“We needed something bold, awe-inspiring and unapologetic to capture the public’s imagination,” says Channel 4’s Dan Brooke, the man behind the Paralympics marketing strategy. “A big budget treatment was called for.”

Meet the Superhumans

‘Meet the Superhumans’ is the eye-catching result. A 90 second promotional film, set to an adrenalin-fuelled soundtrack, it shows disabled athletes pushing their bodies to the limit in a way rarely seen before in UK media.

The sports action is interspersed with dark, jarring moments: a soldier blown over in an explosion, a pregnant woman pacing a hospital room, a car flipping on a motorway. It’s a stark reminder that the finish line is not where the story starts or ends for many disabled athletes.

There’s no doubt that the advert, which was televised on 178 channels simultaneously - known in the trade as a ‘roadblock’ - has made the public take notice of the Paralympics like never before. But what of Channel 4’s other aim: to challenge opinions about disabled people. Is the Superhuman tag working?

Scope asked Martyn Sibley from Disability Horizons, the online lifestyle magazine, what his readers thought. “Overall, reactions are positive,” he says. “Yes, it’s sensationalist but the ad’s cool factor has won fans. That said; disabled people get tired of the hero or victim category we’re often shunted between, so that’s raised some interesting online debates.”

A cursory glance at Facebook and Twitter shows the advert is still setting social media alight. “If anyone is 'superhuman' it is elite athletes. The Olympiads get that hero type tag all the time, it’s about time Paralympians did too,” comments one post. “I find it ANNOYING, DEGRADING and HUMILIATING,” shouts another. “It worries me – am I meant to be superhuman? Why isn’t being an ordinary disabled person good enough?    

Keeping the 'cool' factor

Brooke says the campaign was designed to make the mass public rethink their expectations of disabled athletes. “This is not an ‘ahh bless’ advert,” he says. “We want people to sit up and think: ‘bloody hell, that’s skill, grit and determination in action. By superhuman, we mean elite athletes born with an extraordinary skill that’s being pushed to the limit.”

Whichever side of the debate you land on, there’s no denying that future Paralympic games must hold on to the ‘cool factor’ and big budget treatment if they are ever to compete with mainstream sporting events.

“Over 100 countries broadcast the Olympics live. Only ten are going live with the Paralympics,” says Brooke. “And interestingly, not one US channel is broadcasting live coverage. We’ve come a long way, but look how far there is to go.”

The legacy of the Paralympics is yet to be decided. For Channel 4, the aim is simple: that more disabled people are on our television screens, for more of the time. After talent-spotting and training eight new disabled presenters, the channel intends to keep their media profiles high, long after the games have finished.

But for the world at large, what will the Paralympics mean? Could this be the start of a change in attitudes? An answer to the negative press that disabled people have come up against recently? We’ll have to watch, wait and see. Right now, let’s get behind the games and wish Team GB the very best of luck!