Cornwall Blind Association

‘Safe Shopping' Campaign

The Cornwall Blind Association (CBA) had commissioned a ‘Needs assessment and business development study' in association with University of Plymouth, which looked into the growing numbers of visual impaired people within the county and how their needs and concerns were being addressed.

One element of the study revealed that visually impaired people find shopping not only daunting but problematic. The data showed that 25% of respondents shopped on their own but a majority were either helped by someone else (37%) or had someone else to do the shopping for them completely (34%).

Method

As it was coming up to Christmas we knew that the prospect of buying presents could be unnerving and daunting for visually impaired people.

Yet because visually impaired people can often differentiate colours and tones we came up with the idea of attaching colour to potential hazards to make them easier to identify, using bright yellow CBA branded strips throughout the main shopping streets in Truro.

This campaign literally highlighted the plight that visually impaired people have when shopping, sending out a strong message to local authorities, shop keepers and the general public.

Skyfield Communications also enlisted the help of local school children to place the coloured strips on the hazards. This acted as an awareness raising and educational project for the children and added credibility and strength to the campaign.

Results

The local media was very interested in this project and either physically turned up on the day or reported the event.

The campaign was covered extensively by regional TV, radio and print media.

Skyfield Communications also created a campaign that has the potential to be rolled out across the UK and could potentially lead to a national project.