Christmas diversity ad campaign goes live to promote using images of BAME families
A campaign to promote diversity within advertising and marketing has gone live with the aim of making a white Christmas a thing of the past.
A number of photographs were shot as part of the #ChristmasSOwhite campaign
The #ChristmasSOwhite campaign, which includes a dedicated website, aims to shine a light on the under representation of the BAME community within advertising, focusing on Christmas ads which are mainly seen as featuring predominantly white people.
#ChristmasSOwhite from Sunshine Pictures on Vimeo.
A number of images have been specially shot by photographer Helen Marsden, featuring BAME families in Britain celebrating Christmas in order to promote diversity within such festive adverts.
The campaign site will aim to form a hub of Christmas imagery as more pictures are collected of families from diverse backgrounds celebrating the festive holiday through the use of #ChristmasSOWhite on social media platforms.
The initiative has been devised and founded by Nadya Powell, one of the founders of The Great British Diversity Experiment, Nathalie Gordon and Wren Graham from Sunshine and Selma Nicholls from Looks Like Me.
Powell commented: “There is an under-representation of the BAME community in marketing and advertising, partly due to bias and partly as the imagery simply does not exist.
"This is causing young people across the world to question their identity – many of the parents who are part of #ChristmasSOwhite have experienced their children asking if they can have white skin like the girls on TV and in Magazines. This is not a future we want for any child."
She continued: "#ChristmasSOwhite seeks to end the lack of representation and calls for a Christmas that reflects the wonderful diversity of the United Kingdom. We want to make a white Christmas a thing of the past.”
The campaign organisers are also in discussions with image distribution platforms to ensure that the pictures are shared amongst a wider audience. They have also hinted that the campaign will be continued next year potentially around Easter.
Meanwhile, The Drum has released its annual Diversity in Advertising census, offering an insight into the different ethnicities of people working within the industry.