Does ‘Inspiration Porn’ Inspire? How Disability and Challenge Impact Attitudinal Evaluations of Advertising
Abstract
Disability community members have voiced concerns about advertising’s representations of persons with disabilities (PWDs). “Inspiration porn” in advertising often takes the form of showing a PWD completing challenging, physical tasks. Utilizing a 2 (model: non-disabled vs. disabled) by 2 (challenge level: none vs. high) by 2 (ad replication: male vs. female) between subjects design, an online experiment (N = 472) asked, does a PWD completing a high challenge task increase advertisement effectiveness? Furthermore, it explored whether indicators of inspiration mediated the relationship. Ads featuring PWDs increased effectiveness and this effect was mediated by meaningful affect and physical indicators of elevation.
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Media portrayals of people with disabilities often portray them as super-heroes overcoming insurmountable barriers.
“Yet, PwD are frequently absent or negatively stereotyped in media [34, 49, 103, 120] -portraying them as objects of pity, charity, or humor [49, 88], or as super-heroes overcoming insurmountable barriers [34, 100, 120].”
From Engaging Communities Meaningfully in Defining Disability Representation for AI Image Generation (2026) · cites this paper as [100]
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- Authors
- Shelton, S. S., & Waddell, T. F.
- Affiliations
- Idaho State University (US)
- University of Florida (US)
- Corresponding author
- Shelton, Summer S.
- Venue
- Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2020-12-07
- Volume
- 42
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 258-276
- ISSN
- 1064-1734 (ISSN-L)
- 2164-7313
- OpenAlex
- W3112025218
- Cited by
- 28
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 2
- FWCI
- 3.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Media, Gender, and Advertising
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Disability Rights and Representation
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Inclusion and Disability in Education and Sport
- Keywords
- people with disabilities, advertising representation, disability stereotypes, advertising effectiveness, gender differences in advertising
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