Team Hoyt Billboard

I saw the Team Hoyt billboard ad driving around town in Los Angeles and began to wonder why the ad was created. First, you should know that Dick and Rick Hoyt are a father and son team that competes in marathons together. The catch is Rick Hoyt is confined to a wheelchair. His dad pushes him in his wheelchair through every marathon or triathlon race they enter. The story inspires just about everyone that hears about it.

The billboard was created on behalf of the Foundation For A Better Life (FLB). The organization’s mission is to “Encourage adherence to a set of quality values through personal accountability and by raising the level of expectations of performance of all individuals.” The statement was taken right off of their Web-site. I wrote a short email to the organization asking who creates their ads but I got no response.

I honestly think that the FLB creates their ads in-house because they are probably a non-profit organization. I’m not saying that being a non-profit means that you can’t use outside agencies, I’m just saying I’m not completely sure. I have to say that I’m not sure you would have chose to create billboard using this tandem.

There are a lot of fathers in this world that would do absolutely anything for their children. Why are these two getting all this attention? The only reason I paid any attention to the ad is because of the wheelchair. The severely disabled aren’t usually featured in national ads because they just don’t look “good” enough. But back to my original point why are these two getting all this attention? I think it simply because it makes other people feel good about themselves.

I guess I just don’t like to see the disabled paraded around the country to be gawked at. As a person in a wheelchair I’m a bit bothered by that. But let me ask you readers out there, do these billboards inspire you to do good works?

Best,
A.B.