UK Chapter of the Unstereotype Alliance presents Conversations for Change

The UK Chapter is committed to advancing progressive and intersectional portrayals of marginalised groups. To help accelerate the pace of change its members and allies have come together to create a new content series, Conversations for Change. The aim of this series is to offer audiences an informal, inspiring, and personal set of learnings into progressive and unstereotypical storytelling.

The series features brand leaders, inclusion activists and marketing experts addressing a number of key diversity, equity and inclusion topics including how to dismantle stereotypes in advertising, the importance of cultural nuance, and dealing with backlash.

Each ten-minutes episode features a diverse line-up of industry titans and includes intimate conversations across the themes ‘Lived Experiences’, ‘How to Achieve Authentic Representation’, ‘The Power of Cultural Nuance’, ‘Driving Positive Social Change’ and ‘The Future of Diversity in Advertising’.

UK Chapter Chair, Keith Weed, says: “The insights and lessons shared make this compelling and necessary viewing for anyone working in the ad, creative and marketing industries today. Diversity in advertising is no longer an innovative extra, it must be seen as business as usual, and this content series is a vital resource to help advance this agenda.”

Advertising market size (US$): 47.96 billion (4th largest in the world)  

Launch date: July 2020  

Strategic priorities: To tackle deeply ingrained inequalities in the UK, with a specific focus on advancing progressive and intersectional portrayals of women, girls and marginalised communities in the UK.

Strategic industry events: AdWeek Europe, Drum Content Awards 

Members:  adam&eveDDB, AMV BBDO, BBD Perfect Storm, B&Q, Co-op, Diageo, E.ON UK PLC, Fleishman Hillard, Forsman & Bodenfors, Google, Haleon, IPG, Kantar, Kellogg’s, , Lloyds Banking Group, L'Oréal, Mars, Meta, Mattel, Mondelēz International, PepsiCo, Sainsbury’s, Tesco PLC, Unilever, YOOX NET-A-PORTER, Vodafone, WPP

Allies: Advertising Association (AA), The Advertising Producers Association (APA), Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), Business in the Community, CEW UK Ltd, Channel 4, Creative Equals, The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), ISBA, Women in Advertising and Communications London (WACL)


Milestones

NEW Creative Bravery Beyond the Backlash guide 

The UK Chapter of the Unstereotype Alliance has launched Creative Bravery Beyond the Backlash, a new digital guide designed to advance progressive marketing and inclusive advertising practices. The guide has been created by members and allies of the UK Chapter in response to fears of backlash holding marketers back from producing diverse and inclusive advertising and media content. The guide includes strategies and knowledge to mitigate and navigate consumer backlash and draws on advice and expertise from a range of industry leaders across marketing, PR and DE&I. It also includes case studies of campaigns that have been hugely successful in spite of public backlash. The full version of the Creative Bravery Beyond the Backlash guide is available to Unstereotype Alliance members and via the knowledge hub. Non-members can also download this condensed version which includes a 10-point guide to support marketers through a framework of advice and best-practice.

Link: https://www.unstereotypealliance.org/en/resources/research-and-tools/creative-bravery-beyond-the-backlash 

First of its kind research into stereotypes in audio advertising in the UK 

The UK Chapter has commissioned together with Tesco, Kantar and Acast a first-of-its-kind study into the diversity of audio advertising in the UK. The results reveal that accent bias is a prominent issue with 62% of UK radio and podcast advertisements featuring Estuary English accents associated with the area along the River Thames, including London, or the King’s English. 

 

According to the study – which analyzed ads covering both podcast advertising and national radio advertising across finance, retail, food and entertainment industries – accents from the North of England featured in just 19% of ads. Welsh and Scottish accents appear in just 2% of ads, while voices from the Norther Ireland feature in 1% of ads. Women make up 51% of the UK population but only 36% of audio ads feature female voices as the lead. Male voices dominate particularly in finance (53%), entertainment (48%) and food (47%) audio ads. Research findings with actionable next steps to improve audio diversity have been shared with members and key trade media. Coverage on the findings has appeared in Marketing Week, Little Black Book, Decision Marketing and Marketing Beat. 

The UK National Chapter launches the 'Conversations for Change' video series 

 

The UK Chapter members and allies have come together to create a new content series, 'Conversations for Change'. The aim of this series is to offer audiences an informal, inspiring, and personal set of learnings into progressive and unstereotypical storytelling. The series features brand leaders, inclusion activists and marketing experts addressing a number of key diversity, equity and inclusion topics including how to dismantle stereotypes in advertising, the importance of cultural nuance, and dealing with backlash. Each ten-minutes episode features a diverse line-up of industry titans and includes intimate conversations across the themes ‘Lived Experiences’, ‘How to Achieve Authentic Representation’, ‘The Power of Cultural Nuance’, ‘Driving Positive Social Change’ and ‘The Future of Diversity in Advertising’. This fantastic series is now available to the wider industry and public on the Unstereotype Alliance YouTube channel.

Watch the full series here.

 

Launch: On 31st of July, the UK National Chapter launched in partnership with a core group of 28 leading UK advertisers and creative agencies.

Learn more