The idea that the Paralympics isn’t “real” sport persists. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is intent on making reality override misconception. adam&eveDDB’s London and New York offices have created the campaign to make people see the reality that the Paralympics is a high-performance sport ahead of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. The IPC hopes to attract a record TV audience and huge spectator crowds to match the record number of entries, 160 in 2024 vs 154 for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.   

The campaign film, The Paralympic Dream, directed by Blinkink director, Sam Gainsborough, begins with a sweetly romantic animation in which Para athletes run, jump, fence, and paddle, hand-in-hand in a fanciful Paris alongside loveable singing plants and animals. Paul McCartney’s 1984 song, We All Stand Together, underlines the gentle mood. But then the film is abruptly interrupted by the gritty realism of Paralympic sport as British Paralympic taekwondo athlete, Amy Truesdale, is kicked in the chest and crashes to the mat. The film then continues with a montage of action from pervious Paralympic Games.

On the IPC blog, Craig Spence, the IPC chief brand and communications officer, noted, “With our Paris 2024 Paralympic promotional film we wanted to challenge the perceptions and stereotypes some people have of the Paralympic Games in the most fun and creative way possible.

“For some, the Paralympics is an idyllic event where the athletes are carefree and just happy to be there. The truth is that Paralympic sport is highly competitive and, at times, pretty brutal. To compete at the Paralympics, you have to be a world-class high-performance athlete and we show this in the film through fast-paced sporting action.”

The film has been made available in nine languages, with 30- and 15-second cutdowns in English, and has audio-described and subtitled versions.