Study finds ethnic groups underrepresented by advertisers
A study of UK TV ads screened last year by Clearcast has found that just 5.3% featured actors from an ethnic minority background.
This is less than half the groups estimated share of the UK population, currently put at around the 13% mark.
Of 34,499 adverts surveyed only 1,845 featured black, Asian or other actors onscreen, although the group were relatively well represented with walk on parts in government ads.
Jabeer Butt, deputy chief executive of the Race Equality Foundation, said: “No one would want to stifle creativity by suggesting that we have to have a certain percentage of black and minority ethnic people portrayed in ads. However, these statistics suggest that advertisers are missing an opportunity to reach a growing segment of consumers."