Women and ethnic minorities are now overrepresented in the UK advertising industry following a decades-long push to improve diversity, according to a new survey.
A 2022 census found that an estimated 55pc of employees in the sector were women, compared to 45pc who were men.
That was after the number of women increased from an estimated 11,600 to 14,400, an increase of 24pc, the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) said.
So, who gets fired? Or doesn’t it work that way because reasons?
It is possible to point out that women are, in fact, the decision makers on 70% of household expenditures therefore there is still under-representation but that then runs into the problem of what damn patriarchy getting all the wages then?
Is that why all adverts on telly these days are so tedious ? ( And diverse ).
A 2022 census found that an estimated 55pc of employees in the sector were women, compared to 45pc who were men.
If 100% are men or women what’s happened to the other 159 genders?
Inigo Montoya time yet again.
Last year The Pull Agency, a creative agency and consultancy, also warned that marketers were becoming “out of touch” with consumers and risked being seen as telling audiences “how to think”.
The agency’s research found 60pc of those surveyed did not feel “well represented” in advertising for beauty products and that the majority wanted brands to focus on paying their taxes and “treating people fairly”.
I do not think the results of that survey mean what you think they mean.
The apparent overwhelming concerns for paying tax and treating people fairly suggest the survey took place either at a Lib Dem conference or in Bath judging by the preferences of its voters as illustrated by another of todays articles.
At the same time, the proportion of non-white employees increased by almost one third to 24pc, compared to 18pc a year earlier
Can confirm.
After the Fentanyl Riots in Americaland, my employer decided we have too many damn white men working for us here in the UK, and Something Must Be Done about it.
But how do they ‘know’ you’re a white man? You can self declare as any ethnicity or gender you want. The only rule in Calvinball is don’t be a loser.
So I’m officially no longer a white man as far as HR are concerned. Diversity has gone up in my department, without a corresponding increase in cost or incompetence.
You’re welcome, racists.
I must admit I’m getting a bit sick of the drive to DIE. (my version of the Holy Trinity; Diversity, Inclusion, Equality).
I don’t mind women being in the ad industry at all. I don’t mind women being involved in anything. But it’s the urge of “progressives” to treat us all like Smarties that I find so puerile. As if your skin colour has anything to do with any facet of your character or abilities.
I always think of people like Thomas Sowell, one of the most sensible (in the 21st century there is no higher accolade) people I know of.
His innate intelligence, his childhood and his life in Harlem shaped who he is. The fact that he is black means he just doesn’t need factor 50 sun cream like I do. Big deal.
Write “Snicker” next time, bigot!
That mixed race woman with the massive corkscrew hair and the perpetual snarly smile and perfect teeth – she must be paid a bliddy fortune. She’s on the BBC, and advertises sofas, telecom packages, fitted kitchens, and anything to do with banking.
So here’s my advice to the industry: get yourself a nice computer generated image of her, and save yourselves a lot of money.
That mixed race woman with the massive corkscrew hair
Yes, it’s noticeable that almost every, er, diverse character in adverts is mixed race and has a very “Europeanised” physiognomy. It’s a startling example of racism in itself; no (or very few) sub-Saharan African types, and very few from countries to the left and right of India who represent a goodly slice of the UK population in certain areas.
“It is possible to point out that women are, in fact, the decision makers on 70% of household expenditures”
I heard an interesting piece on R4 saying it was rather higher than that. The interview was regarding the relative lack of women in IT. One of the possible reasons given was that ads, including job ads, were more expensive when targeted at women. This being a consequence of women making 85% (or whatever) of the spending decisions.
It didn’t occur to any of the speakers that this might be an own goal for the Patriarchy.
In other news, the Nanny shortage continues to worsen.
DIE: Deluded, Intruding, Entitled
I go with EDI. Especially when it’s in mEDIocrity.
Of course if you were a Muslim,it’ d be EID.
Suspect Mrs G. is the decision maker on far more than 70pct of our household expenditure, be it housing, furniture, holiday destinations and motor vehicles. I get to select my own underwear and to purchase the booze.
Of course if you were a Muslim,it’ d be EID.
Or IED.
Jack,
“I heard an interesting piece on R4 saying it was rather higher than that. The interview was regarding the relative lack of women in IT. One of the possible reasons given was that ads, including job ads, were more expensive when targeted at women. This being a consequence of women making 85% (or whatever) of the spending decisions.”
Eh? So, people at Radio 4 think that we’d target Vogue for Python devs? What utter balls. Love to hear that if you can name the programme, though.
The real reason is that most women just aren’t interested. Honestly, they never were. All this talk about the decline of women in IT departments? Yeah, the reason for that is that people used to get hired because of graduate trainee programmes and women with degrees in literature and geography would do it because it was a corporate job. They hadn’t owned home computers or had any interest before someone hired them into IT. They generally produced at best, mediocre code, often needed a lot of help (from men who were happy hanging around some young woman) and many of them tried to get into business analysis as quickly as possible. Oh, and the business analysts stopped being part of the IT department, over time, which has skewed the figures.
We now have about the same percentage of good women programmers that we had in the late 80s. We just don’t have the poor ones. And the best indicator of if a woman is any good is that she doesn’t have children and has little desire to have children. I can think of 2 good ones that have a child or two and that’s it.
Concur with BonM4: virtually all the women I’ve met employed as programmers are there solely to get a foot on the first rung of the management ladder. As far as they’re concerned, the sooner they can give up the coding part of the job, the better.
This continuously frustrates me. If your career goal is to be in management, GET A BLOODY MANAGEMENT JOB!!!!! not a “doing” job.
Steve
February 28, 2023 at 9:35 am
Didn’t know you were into blackface Steve.
More seriously, I of course agree with Grist. If I was choosing anyone for a job, I’d want them to be able to do the job. If they were purple, rainbow striped, green or scarlet, it wouldn’t really bother me. Indeed they could even be white!!!
Today I received some junk mail from Specsavers promoting something or other. The pamphlet featured a grinning young black man on the front and a grinning mature black woman on the back. Specsavers’ target audience is almost entirely mainstream white. Why do they do this?
I suppose if all the advertising agencies are equally shit then the clients will just think the market isn’t very responsive to advertising generally.
John: ” and risked being seen as telling audiences “how to think”.”
Which is the basics of their job….
Of course, they’ve become so bad at it that most people have figured out the scam…
PJF
I did like the IED post. Need to send a few more of those over to the Ukraine perhaps…
BonM4,
I think it was Women’s Hour, or similar. Not sure the IT part is relevant, and they certainly weren’t interested in genuine reasons, just 10 mins of why-oh-why-oh-why etc.
That platforms charge more to advertise to women sounded plausible, and because “women control the money” sounded even more plausible (I’m married).
Controlling the money doesn’t make them any less oppressed though.
Jack C
You just reminded me of this Top-Tip from Viz comic:
“SINGLE MEN: Get a glimpse of married life by taping Woman’s Hour on Radio 4, then playing it back at a higher volume than the TV while you’re watching the World Cup.”