Channel 4 Is Doctoring an Ad Break to Reflect How Blind People Experience Commercials

The U.K.'s Channel 4 has persuaded five advertisers -- Paco Rabanne, Amazon Echo, O2, Freeview and Specsavers -- to have their ads doctored to demonstrate how a blind person experiences commercials.

The broadcaster is partnering with charity the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), alongside the five advertisers to enable viewers for the first time to "see" an ad break through the eyes of people living with sight loss conditions in the U.K.. For example in the Paco Rabanne fragrance ad, seen here, the descriptive narration includes lines such as "in a luxurious bathroom, a smouldering man stars to undress," while, to demonstrate what someone with cataracts would experience, the film increasingly blurred and cloudy. Different ads will use different filters to highlight other conditions, such as glaucoma, hemianopia and mascular degeneration.

The campaign will be broadcast during Channel 4's "The Undateables" tonight (Sept. 18), to coincide with National Eye Health Week.

The idea was developed through 4Sales' creative arm PL4Y and produced by Channel 4's in-house creative agency 4Creative. The special ad breaks were produced with the support of RNIB and Eye Health U.K. (organisers of National Eye Health week) and each brand has donated 10% of their production fee to the RNIB in support of National Eye Health Week.