Diversity in adverts makes business and cultural sense

When Reform MP Sarah Pochin declared that adverts “full of Black people, full of Asian people” were not reflective of society, she tapped into that familiar chorus: that diversity in advertising is not representative and imposed by the “woke liberati”.

- CLIVE MORGAN

But the Runcorn and Helsby MP's racist - or “phrased poorly” - comments misunderstand both the purpose of advertising and the economic reality that drives it. Even Nigel Farage, her party leader, distanced himself - calling Pochin's comments “wrong and ugly”. What we see on TV is not a census. It is not a mirror of Britain's demographic breakdown. It is aspirational, symbolic and designed to connect the product emotionally with audiences.

Car adverts don't show traffic jams, they show the open road and freedom; beauty and fashion ads present flawless models, not the insecurities they can fuel. They sell possibility, not mundanity. And in today's Britain, possibility looks diverse.

For many of us who grew up in the Eighties and Nineties, that wasn't the case. People of colour in adverts were rare, and when they did appear, it was often as background figures or clichés - the grinning sidekick, the exotic extra, the comic relief.

In fact, two adverts spring to mind: Kia-Ora (based on blackface) or the Um Bongo, which was banned due to its reference to “bongo bongo land” (or a stereotypical reference to Africa and its “uncivilised” people). Even Yorkie chocolate bars were “not for girls” from 2002 until 2011.

Seeing someone who looked like you in a glossy campaign was almost unheard of. That absence sent a message too: that belonging, beauty and aspiration were reserved for others. Today's inclusive adverts are correcting that imbalance, and that progress should be celebrated, not mocked.