Ahead of Black Friday, Keep Left and Guide Dogs NSW/ACT are raising awareness of what it’s like to shop online as a person with low-vision or blindness with an activation that removes shoppers’ ability to see what they’re buying.
The Blackout Friday pop-up shop is a social experiment that puts us in the shoes of Australians with low vision or blindness. The low-vision and blind community regularly face frustrating barriers like inaccessible buttons or images with no descriptions preventing them from having the full online shopping experience and even checking out. This is especially challenging during busy sales periods like Black Friday.
The Blackout Friday pop-up shop invites shoppers to browse curated, pre-loved items from fashion marketplace Uturn. However, each item is hidden with the packaging displaying only limited written descriptions, so you don’t know exactly what you are buying.
In addition to educating consumers, the campaign will encourage retail brands to offer more inclusive online product descriptions – a simple act that will remove barriers for people with blindness and low vision.
Working closely with Guide Dogs NSW/ACT, Keep Left produced the integrated campaign activation from concept to design, including the shop fit-out, out-of-home, social creative, web design, partnerships management, earned media and influencer engagement.
“Blackout Friday is more than a pop-up shop; it’s a disability awareness experience that gets people thinking about the barriers in online shopping for consumers who are low vision or blind,” said Guide Dogs NSW/ACT chief marketing officer Michael Apte.
“Many e-commerce brands aren’t aware of small changes that would make a significant difference to the community. We have found a way to clearly explain the issue with actionable steps to create real change”.
“The retail frenzy that is Black Friday provided the perfect backdrop for us to co-opt this day and create an immersive, earned creative experience in Blackout Friday. While our store may be the only one in Australia actively promoting products consumers won’t be able to see, thousands of other e-commerce stores across the country will be doing this unawares,” said Keep Left executive creative director Blair Kimber.
“We hope this activation sparks conversation among consumers and retailers to ultimately create a more accessible and inclusive world for people with blindness and low vision. While we can’t fix every website this year, we can raise awareness, so businesses are inspired to prioritise accessibility and stop leaving millions of consumers in the dark”.
To get started, e-commerce brands can download free ‘website guidelines’ from Guide Dogs NSW/ACT to make stores easier to navigate for all.
CREDITS
Guide Dogs NSW/ACT
Dale Cleaver, CEO
Michael Apte, CMO
Sarah Watts, Campaigns Manager
Tori Larosa, Senior Event Coordinator
Keep Left
Caroline Catterall, CEO
Blair Kimber, Executive Creative Director
Ruby Gill, Senior Copywriter
Johanna Murray, GM Integration
Jessica Williams, Client Services Director
Tiffany Simon, Client Partner
Laura Agricola, Director of Strategy
Larissa Thorne, Director of Planning & Performance
Rebecca Shaw, Senior Account Manager, PR
Zach Edwards, Strategist
Harris Galloway, Strategist
Hannah Palmer, Designer
Bryce Ford, Production Design
