Baileys Makes Content Accessible With 'Delicious Descriptions'

Baileys, the adult treat brand, has introduced ‘Delicious Descriptions’, a social campaign focused on enhancing image descriptions and screen-reader content for blind and partially sighted social media users by layering in more delicious descriptors of treat content.

The campaign, which coincides with Global Accessibility Awareness Day, was created in consultation with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) and Meta. ‘Delicious Descriptions’ is one simple way to make social content more accessible to wider audiences.

Sitting underneath the image content on Meta channels, the enhanced image descriptors are included in closed brackets and connect with existing screen reader technology to elevate the user experience of Baileys’ indulgent social feed.

Every day, over 95 million photos and videos are posted on Instagram, many of which contain indulgent treats with over 145 million posts with #delicious. According to the latest reports*, there are more than 2 million people living with sight loss in the UK and more than 2.2 billion people with sight loss worldwide. The content experiences for audiences previously were based around general content transcriptions of what was being shown in visual content without any elevated narration that brought the content to life. Now the ’chocolate cake is topped with Baileys’ is layered in a more indulgent description, ‘the warm chocolate cake is drizzled with Baileys creating an explosive fondant of hot and cold’.

Paul Carton, Global Marketing Director, Baileys commented: “Baileys believes every adult has a seat at the treat table, no matter your age, sexuality, ethnicity, ability or gender and through Delicious Descriptions, we will deliver image descriptions that are as delicious as the image themselves. Working collaboratively with RNIB and Meta, we are delighted to make our treat content that bit more accessible and engaging. We are also encouraging other organisations to make their social content more accessible to wider audiences with the Baileys Delicious Descriptions Guide. Together we can make Delicious Descriptions that can be enjoyed by everyone.”

Ali Long, Director of Consumer and Business Services at Royal National Institute of Blind People said: “RNIB is working with Baileys to improve the accessibility of their brand content to ensure it is accessible to a wider audience that includes people with sight loss. Too often screen reader content is flat and less engaging than content created for general audiences. Baileys’ Delicious Descriptions is a great initiative, and we look forward to continuing on the journey with the Baileys team.”

To mark the introduction of Delicious Descriptions, Baileys is working with content creators Lucy Edwards in the UK and Molly Burke and Grammy’s board singer Lachi in the USA to highlight how blind and partially sighted social media user experience screen reader content and how Delicious Descriptions will enhance their treating inspiration.

To support more treat brands to make their social media content more accessible to wider audiences, Baileys has created a Delicious Descriptions guide, a simple step-by-step roadmap for creating more delicious, more accessible content. You can access the guide here.

The social campaign was created by VMLY&R London, and Christina Miller, the agency’s Head of Social, added: “While social platforms have made huge leaps in recent years to make experiences more accessible, we are still not reaching everyone. Instagram, in particular, is a highly visual platform by nature, making it hard to deliver a full experience to the visually impaired. We are incredibly proud to support Baileys to not only reach an under-represented community for the platform but kickstart the wider change we want to see in inclusive content.”

For more information about Baileys Delicious Descriptions, please visit Baileys Instagram at @baileysofficial. PR for the campaign is led by Wilson Hartnell.