Despite 77% of people agreeing that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is important in advertising, representation across UK ads has largely remained unchanged or worsened over the past six years.

Channel 4’s latest ‘Mirror On The Industry’ report, released today (30 September) in partnership with research agency Tapestry, shows that progress on minority representation in TV advertising remains inconsistent. The study draws on six years of analysis covering 6,000 UK TV ads and surveys of 12,000 consumers.

Pregnant women appear in just 0.1% of UK adverts, while LGBTQIA+ people feature in 2% of ads – below the 3.2% share of the population, according to the 2021 Census. This is down from the 3% average from 2018-2023.

Disabled people appear in 4% of ads, compared with 17.8% of the UK population, a figure unchanged since Channel 4 began tracking representation in 2019.

One of the areas of progress is the representation of black people, which rose from 37% of ads in 2020, in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, to 51% in 2024.

The findings come against a backdrop of government and corporate rollbacks of DEI initiatives. Yet consumer perceptions are moving in the opposite direction. Since 2023, the share of people who believe DEI in advertising is important has grown from 72% to 77%. Meanwhile, 62% of consumers say they have noticed brands putting more emphasis on inclusion and diversity in their ads.

Brand impact

At an event hosted by Channel 4 today (30 September), Melda Simon, UK lead for the Unstereotype Alliance, argued that brands need a “mindset shift” on inclusion.

“Too many of us are still putting inclusion in this ‘right thing to do’, ‘social good’ box, so I think we need to move it into thinking about it as a business and marketing discipline,” she said.

She also cited a study with Oxford University, which found inclusive advertising can have a positive impact on brand metrics and sales.

A study of 392 brands, including Diageo, Unilever and Mars, showed that inclusive campaigns were linked to a 16.2% uplift in long-term sales and a 3.5% short-term impact. Brands using representation were also 62% more likely to be chosen first by consumers and 23% less likely to be abandoned after trial.

By tracking inclusive advertising for the past eight years, it found representation in ads also consistently delivers stronger brand outcomes, including higher likeability, credibility and purchase intent. Meanwhile, 40% of consumers say they have personally come across advertising that has made them re-evaluate their own beliefs.

“[The report] made this connection between inclusive advertising and commercial growth,” she said.

Channel 4 study finds advertising fails to reflect modern masculinity

The report highlights how representation is often confined to certain ad formats. Montage-style ads, increasingly popular among brands, are more likely to feature underrepresented groups. However, screen time is limited and 87% of tokenistic portrayals occur in this style. For example, members of the LGBTQIA+ community are often portrayed as “less serious” and disabled people are portrayed as “empowered”.

Just over half (51%) of people believe companies should do more to represent people like them in TV adverts.

“For me, it’s about authenticity and execution,” said senior brand manager at Lactalis UK and Ireland, Joe Wawryzniak. “TV execution campaigns are a really important part of that. But as a brand ownerof brand news about, how do we commercialise the rest of the brand authentically?”

Reflecting on a past role at Arla Foods, he recalled how the brand identified sales spikes during Ramadan and adjusted its in-store messaging to be more representative of the Muslim community.

“Rather than trying to shoehorn and reposition the brand, what they did is they tweaked some of their in-store communication,” he explained.

“They weren’t trying to take this brand and change that heritage of who it was; the heritage stayed the same, the positioning stayed the same. But actually, how they showed up and what messages they were putting out were important.”

Channel 4 CMO: Creator marketing risks ‘brand flattening’

While some brands have made strides in challenging beauty stereotypes, the report suggested signs of regression. Plus-size representation has fallen, with only 5% of ad characters defined as plus-size in 2024, compared with 13% in 2023. Using the Fitzpatrick skin tone scale, it also finds those with darker skin tones remain the least likely to appear in ads.

Depictions of everyday life were also shown to be skewed, with working-class characters less likely to be portrayed as confident or happy. Several groups remain persistently underrepresented, including disabled people, who only play a lead role in 2% of ads overall (dropping to 0.3% of ads showing neurodivergent people or those with neurological or mental health conditions).

Meanwhile, pregnant people appear in just 0.1% of ads, LGBTQIA+ people play a lead role in just 1% of ads, and those aged 70-plus are most often featured in specific advertisements focused on health or charity.

The report urges brands to move beyond tokenistic depictions by reflecting groups often absent from TV advertising, grounding campaigns in research and lived experience and considering how format shapes storytelling.

It also calls on advertisers to challenge conventions around beauty, family, relationships and class, while striking a balance between aspiration and relatability to ensure portrayals resonate with audiences.