Carnival Cruise Lines is the national cruise line advertiser during NBC’s telecast of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games. This month, the company debuted a 30-second commercial called “Bobslide,” featuring four children who meet onboard the ship and, just a day later, form a fierce bobslide team ─ a playful nod to competitive bobsled Olympians.

Following casting calls in Los Angeles, Miami, and Orlando, three of the four child actors were cast from Central Florida, including 9-year-old Hudson Adams-Farley of Winter Garden, 10-year-old Elijah Ward of Pine Hills, and 11-year-old Parker Brenneman of Kissimmee. If you’ve seen the television commercial, you’ll likely agree that these youngsters gave a hilarious, gold-medal worthy performance! Renee Adams, Hudson’s mom, said, “When I heard the agency wanted to cast quirky kids, I knew Hudson would be a great fit!”

At the age of three, Hudson was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder considered to be on the “high functioning” end of the spectrum, plus other learning disabilities that impact his reading and writing abilities. “If you weren’t familiar with Asperger’s, you might think that Hudson was weird or antisocial, but his behavior is just different because of the way his brain works,” explains Jeff Farley, Hudson’s father. “People with Asperger’s can be brilliant but often display physical and verbal quirks that are misunderstood by others.”

It’s typical for parents to be on set during a production shoot involving a minor, but since Hudson has a tendency to “become overstimulated by surroundings,” Renee assumed the role of a pseudo assistant director to help guide her son. “When Hudson needed some direction, I was asked to communicate the critique to him in a way that he would respond to and not shut him off,” Renee explained. For the most part, that involved correlating actions with those of sports figures or sporting games since Hudson has an “obsession” with sports. “It’s common for autistic individuals to show compulsive or repetitive behaviors,” Jeff said.

The shoot proved to be challenging for all four children due to winds and rocky seas. The ship’s movement even caused some of the cast to become sick in between takes. Despite the weight of the others (since he was positioned at the front of the “sled”) and the continual splashes to his face take after take, Hudson performed very well. As for his newfound fame, “Well, Hudson doesn’t show too much emotion. So, we simply just advised him to say ‘thank you’ to those offering  their congratulatory support,” said Renee, adding that she thinks Hudson would be interested in future commercial opportunities, especially those that do not require line memorization or citation of lines. Renee says Hudson’s paycheck may allow for a school transfer, “We’re exploring if private school might be better for him, especially considering his special needs.”

Recently, companies have integrated children with special needs into advertising campaigns. For example, since 2012, Target has featured children with Down syndrome in their promotional efforts across all mediums. “I think including children (and adults) with special needs in advertising and in mainstream communications as a whole will help people to better understand disabilities,” Jeff said of the inclusion trend. “As parents, we find it especially important because we know that, as Hudson gets older, the quirks that are now just ‘cute’ might soon be considered offensive as he gets older. But, again, it is not him misbehaving, but rather how he behaves because of the Asperger’s.”

The spot will continue to air on television and also during movie theatre commercial previews. Watch the 60 second spot here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV5yVnKXBiU&feature=youtu. Do you think “Bobslide” is a great commercial? Would you like to see more companies hiring individuals with special needs?