Londoners feel ignored and not represented by adverts

75 per cent of Londoners feel that adverts should reflect the diversity of the city's population, yet fewer than one in four thinks adverts are culturally diverse, according to new research from the UCL Institute of Education. The research, which was commissioned by the London Mayor and the Greater London Authority, highlights the pressure that women and girls feel to achieve a specific beauty standard. The study focused on adverts in a range of public spaces that people would encounter in their day-to-day lives in the capital, and highlighted a discrepancy between the portrayal of women in adverts versus real life. Researchers found that fewer than one in three Londoners feel that adverts in the city are relevant to them, and highlighted the lack of diversity in cultural backgrounds, age groups or sexual orientation. Professor Jessica Ringrose, lead researcher (UCL Institute of Education) said: "The lack of diversity in London's advertising is largely due to the women we see being limited to a very narrow range of idealised body types and looks, which do not represent the diversity of London.   "Our findings showed people like and want a more diverse representation of people such as different, colours, size and body shape, ability, age and religions and cultures. Adverts described as the most empowering  and positive were the ones described as the most diverse too." The sexualisation of women and indeed men was the top answer given as to why respondents found advertisements inaccurate and unacceptable, with the most unacceptable adverts in London being women in revealing clothing (36%), followed by men in revealing clothes (34%).