Commercials drastically under-representing non-white people, Clearcast survey finds
Actors from black, Asian or other ethnic minority groups appeared in only 5% of the almost 35,000 TV ads screened in the UK last year, according to a report.
The report by Clearcast, the body that vets all commercials before they are broadcast, found that TV advertising is "drastically under-representing" the ethnic minority groups. Black, Asian and those of other ethnic minorities account for about 13% of the UK population.
Clearcast's report, which marks the first in-depth look at the racial makeup of UK television advertising, found that of the total of 34,499 commercials given the green light last year just 1,845, or 5.3%, used actors from a non-white background.
Only 1,130 ads used actors from an ethnic minority background in the main role, such as in the Premier Inn commercials featuring comedian Lenny Henry.
"What these figures reveal, rather disappointingly, is that commercials are rather drastically under-representing the diverse makeup of the UK population," said Saad Saraf, the chairman of the ethnic diversity group at industry body the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising.
According to the report, which based its data on the information supplied by ad agencies when submitting commercials for clearance, no actors from an ethnic minority background appeared in ads featuring gardening products or household appliances at all last year.
Actors from ethnic minorities appeared most frequently in ads for property, household equipment, online retail, entertainment and pharmaceuticals.
"People react better to advertising when they see themselves reflected in it," said Saraf. "I would therefore advise [advertisers] to take a better look at who their customers are and hope that these figures will become markedly more representative over the coming years."
Government advertising campaigns "index strongly" for ethnic minority actors, the report found, although in "walk-on" roles rather than as leads. Until a spending freeze imposed by the coalition, the government was the largest TV advertiser in the UK,
"For the first time the industry has a baseline measure for its representation of BAMEs [black, Asian and ethnic minority people] in commercials," said the Clearcast managing director, Chris Mundy. "I hope this will provide creative stimulus, particularly for brands that significantly under perform according to the data."
Clearcast pointed out that the survey relates to advertising that appeared on mainstream UK TV channels. The body does not generally clear ads for niche broadcasters catering for ethnic minority audiences.
The report's findings reflect issues the IPA found in the creative industries responsible for making ads.
Earlier this year the IPA produced its annual census of the UK advertising industry and found that of the 18,635 people employed in the sector in 2010 nine out of 10 staff were from a white background. The IPA said this represented an improvement on 2009 when just 8.9% of staff were from a non-white background.
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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/apr/21/tv-ads-ethnic-minorities
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