American Airlines and American Association of People With Disabilities Team up to Honor Best TV Commercial
26 Marzo 2009 - 9:30AM
PR Newswire (US)
FORT WORTH, Texas, March 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- American
Airlines is partnering with the American Association of People with
Disabilities (AAPD) to create an award honoring the best U.S.
television commercials featuring positive portrayals of people with
disabilities. Together, the two organizations will support and
recognize the efforts put forth by companies that feature disabled
people in their television advertising in creative and compelling
ways. "American Airlines has a long history of diversity and
inclusion and is proud to partner with the AAPD to establish this
award in honor of all of our employees, customers and partners with
disabilities," said Will Ris, American's Senior Vice President -
Government Affairs and member of the AAPD's Board of Directors. "We
want to acknowledge creative companies who are supporting people
with disabilities and understand the business value of inclusive
advertising." The contest, set to begin in July, is scheduled to
run for several weeks. Companies and agencies will be able to
submit their commercials, which will be judged by a panel of
experts to determine the best of the group. The final winner will
receive a highly coveted month of free advertising airtime on the
American Airlines inflight entertainment system, making the winning
commercial visible to the tens of thousands of travelers the
airline serves each day. "With more than 56 million people with
disabilities in the U.S. alone, it is surprising that companies
don't market more aggressively to disabled people and our
families," said Andrew Imparato, President and CEO of AAPD. "We are
delighted to partner with American Airlines to leverage the power
of television advertising to help raise the visibility of our
community as a powerful consumer force and as valued members of
society." The American Association of People with Disabilities is
the country's largest cross-disability membership organization with
more than 100,000 members throughout the United States. American
Airlines Chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey announced this competition
at AAPD's Annual Leadership Gala in Washington, D.C., on March 4.
About The American Association of People with Disabilities The
American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), the
country's largest cross-disability membership organization,
organizes the disability community to be a powerful voice for
change - politically, economically, and socially. AAPD was founded
in 1995 to help unite the diverse community of people with
disabilities, including their family, friends and supporters, and
to be a national voice for change in implementing the goals of the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). To learn more, visit the
AAPD website: http://www.aapd.com/. About American Airlines
American Airlines, American Eagle and the AmericanConnection(R)
airlines serve 250 cities in 40 countries with, on average, more
than 3,400 daily flights. The combined network fleet numbers more
than 900 aircraft. American's award-winning Web site, AA.com(R),
provides users with easy access to check and book fares, plus
personalized news, information and travel offers. American Airlines
is a founding member of the oneworld(R) Alliance, which brings
together some of the best and biggest names in the airline
business, enabling them to offer their customers more services and
benefits than any airline can provide on its own. Together, its
members serve nearly 700 destinations in over 140 countries and
territories. American Airlines, Inc. and American Eagle Airlines,
Inc. are subsidiaries of AMR Corporation. AmericanAirlines,
American Eagle, AmericanConnection, AA.com, We know why you fly and
AAdvantage are registered trademarks of American Airlines, Inc.
(NYSE: AMR) AmericanAirlines(R) We know why you fly(R) Current AMR
Corp. releases can be accessed on the Internet. The address is
http://www.aa.com/ DATASOURCE: American Airlines CONTACT: Andrea
Huguely, Corporate Communications of American Airlines,
+1-817-967-1577, ; or Rebecca Panoff, AAPD Communications Manager,
+1-202-508-3783, Web Site: http://www.aa.com/
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