Hello!

28 Comments

Starting With Julius has shared their joy at the recent Kmart Easter catalogue which includes young models with disabilities.

Starting with Julius was established as a project in 2013 by people who are committed to promoting the inclusion of people with disability in Australian advertising, media and beyond.

“We are committed to the equal representation of people with disability in advertising, media and beyond and the use of empowering and inclusive imagery and messages.”

One of their ambassadors is Grace. Grace is 4 years old and joined Julius in the cast of models featuring in the Autumn Winter 2016 nationwide advertising campaign for premium Australian and international children’s fashion brand eeni meeni miini moh.  Grace will also appear in advertising for children’s fashion brand Alex & Ant.

Grace-in-eeni30_1-1-225x300

Another ambassador, Caleb. He is 12 years old and he loves to pose for photographs and to see himself in print. Caleb, who has Down syndrome, got that opportunity along with the rest of Australia when he featured in two catalogues for Target Australia in December 2015.

Caleb-Jordan2-240x300

Also Emily, who is 8 years old and, as a model, she hopes to challenge the advertising industry to include people with disability. Emily has gone from asking her mum while looking through a catalogue, “Mummy why are none of the models in here like me” to appearing in them – she recently shot her first commercial advertising campaign for high profile Australia children’s brand Rock Your Baby, has appeared in advertising for Betts Kids shoes and will also appear in an upcoming campaign for Alex & Ant.  She is also represents Pride Socks USA as part of their official Team.

Emily has Cerebral Palsy and she thinks it’s important to represent people with disability in advertising because “it’s who we are”.

emily

The latest Kmart catalogue for Easter features two young, up and coming models.

Starting with Julius shared their excitement at the latest inclusions.
“Very excited to finally see the Kmart Australia Easter catalogue featuring models with ‪#‎disability‬! Thank you to Guy Russo and the Kmart family for embracing ‪#‎adinclusion‬ and sending the message that Kmart welcomes ALL! Thank you for sharing these awesome photos Beck Copeland!”

They also said – “We reached out to Kmart and they listened and acted on, it’s wonderful!”

Story continues below after images…

Screen Shot 2016-03-16 at 1.04.21 PM

starting with julius 1

starting with julius 2

cooper

Cooper’s mum Bronwyn told Mouths of Mums: “Cooper had the best time shooting the catalogue for Kmart.

He has always wanted to be a model and dreams of representing H&M! It was always tricky to explain to him about auditions and that the mainstream media are looking for a certain look that didn’t encompass a disability as such.

Until we saw a model call out that would suit him so he auditioned and got the job! His confidence shone through and his humour sparked up the studio.

We are thrilled that Kmart is including kids with disabilities just being typical kids seeing the child first.

Cooper has Dystonic Quad CP from a brain injury at birth. He is 11 and in grade 5. He is a food and travel blogger and can be found on Instagram @thewheelfoodie. He’s off to explore Japan, Bali and SriLanka this year.”

It is fantastic to see a great mix of people with disabilities included in recent ad campaigns. We hope to see more and more in the coming months.

The catalogue is out this week. Keep your eyes peeled!

Share your comments below.

Images via Starting with Julius FB

We may get commissions for purchases made using links in this post. Learn more.
  • This is awesome. I work with special needs children and they are amazing.

    Reply

  • That’s great news, good on you Kmart!

    Reply

  • That’s just gorgeous! Well done Kmart keep up the great work!

    Reply

  • Gorgeous kids. Hope this isn’t a one off and hope others follow suit.

    Reply

  • This is so great. My eldest is so cute that my husband wanted to try modelling, but I was afraid he’d be rejected because of his cochlear implants. I didn’t want to expse him to that.

    Reply

  • What a great initiative. Good on Kmart!!

    Reply

  • Good on K-mart. It’s about time everyone was shown.

    Reply

  • Great stuff ! It is fantastic to see a great mix of people with disabilities included in recent ad campaigns.

    Reply

  • Hooray! That’s awesome and overdue.

    Reply

  • I meant to say in my previous comment what gorgeous kids and they are so photogenic.

    Reply

  • This is a fabulous idea. Good on you K Mart.

    Reply

  • I really think this a great move on k marts part

    Reply

  • Fantastic KMart. I’m loving the diversity that they and Target are showing in their catalogues. Real people in real situations.

    Reply

  • It is about time. Well done Kmart.

    Reply

  • Wow that’s fantastic. Good on you Kmart

    Reply

Post a comment
Add a photo
Your MoM account


Lost your password?

Enter your email and a password below to post your comment and join MoM:

You May Like

Loading…

Looks like this may be blocked by your browser or content filtering.

↥ Back to top

Thanks For Your Star Rating!

Would you like to add a written rating or just a star rating?

Write A Rating Just A Star Rating
Join