Less than 1% of people featured in British adverts are LGBT+

A new report from Lloyds Banking Group has found that less than one per cent of people featured in British adverts are LGBT+.

Research conducted by the group shows that advertisers are still failing to reflect Britain’s diversity, particularly with regards to disabled and LGBT+ people, and single parents. However, the study also found that the British public has an appetite to see more diversity.

While about 18 per cent of people in Britain have a disability, only 0.006 per cent of adverts show disabled people, and less than one per cent show single parents, despite one in four adults in the UK raising children in a single-parent household. And only 0.06 per cent of people featured in British adverts are LGBT+, despite figures showing that at least 1.7 per cent of the country identifies as LGBT+.

After surveying 2,200 people throughout the country, Lloyds discovered that the public would like to see more diversity in advertising, with 65 per cent saying they would “feel more favourable about a brand which reflected diversity in advertising”, and 67 per cent of those who responded said they “expect an advertiser to represent diverse aspects of society.”

Urging advertisers to move past a “tokenistic” attitude to diversity, the bank’s group brands and marketing director, Catherine Kehoe, said: “This report highlights that advertising has to evolve to adapt to the reality of modern Britain.

“While the industry has started to make progress, there is still much more to be done. We need to be inclusive and authentic.”

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