My view (and that of most reasonable people) is that the best person should be chosen for a job, regardless of class, colour, religion or sexuality – although occasionally it may be reasonable to favour someone from a disadvantaged background if it is felt that they would have achieved more than a rival, “privileged” candidate if they had had the same advantages.
Similarly, it is fair to suggest that TV ads should represent the British population in equitable proportions, so that no-one group or ethnicity feels excluded or under-represented.
A report in today’s Times informs us, however, that a 2022 survey of the top 500 TV ads indicated that 51% featured black people. Yet, according to the 2021 census, the black population of England and Wales stands at 4%. Even if some of these ads also feature white people, that is still over-representation on a massive scale. (81.7% of the English and Welsh population is white.)
Why is this?
People of Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin comprise 6.9 % of the population of England and Wales. If a quota principle is being followed, there should be getting on for twice as many ads featuring people of south Asian origin as ads featuring black people – yet there are almost none.
I’m genuinely puzzled. It’s difficult to avoid coming to the conclusion that the advertising industry is institutionally racist.
