This funny PSA calls for more visibility for those who stutter

To mark International Stammering Awareness Day on Friday Oct. 22, Stamma, the British Stammering Association, started a petition calling for people who stutter to be visibly and authentically portrayed in the media. The petition, aimed at eleven major media agencies, calls upon them to ensure that people who stammer are represented across all media channels. To promote it, agency VMLY&R London created a humorous film which is itself voiced by a long-standing member of Stamma, Paul Roberts, an engineer who has never been contracted for voiceover work before. The film centers on the overpromise of most petitions; for example signing one won't stop overfishing, fuel crises, billionaires blasting "giant metal penises" into space or the conspiracy theories that Prince Harry is a lizard. "But signing it will insist we see stammering voices on TV, radio and film," Roberts points out. London-based film collective Acid News produced the film, and both they and VMLY&R include talent with a stammer in their teams. In addition to the film, Stamma has released a series of interviews asking people when was the first or last time they saw someone on TV who stammered, or when they saw someone on TV who wasn’t talking about their own stammer, making it the focus of the conversation. The PSA is one of the latest to highlight the issue of stammer/stuttering, which has been in the spotlight more this year since President Biden has talked openly about having had a stutter. In the U.S. last month the Stuttering Association for the Young (SAY) created a new PSA, “In the Spotlight,” which focused on the anxiety experienced by young people with a stutter.

This funny PSA calls for more visibility for those who stutter

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