The IPA’s All In Census is back, with everyone in UK adland asked to complete the survey so the temperature of the creative industry can be taken when it comes to representation; in a bid to ensure folk from all backgrounds feel they belong in our workplaces.
The stakes are higher than ever, with DEI increasingly under fire due to a certain ‘anti-woke’ orange one on the other side of the Atlantic, leading to a host of corporations in the USA ditching commitments to diversity initiatives. And as the saying goes, when America sneezes, the UK catches a cold. Anti-DEI contagion is already spreading in the UK as a result, with the likes of BT and Goldman Sachs the latest to roll back on diversity initiatives here.
It couldn’t happen though in adland – surely? After all, we love to talk about how diversity and inclusion are so important to us, even if not everyone is convinced that we walk the walk, and to be frank, there’d be no need for All In if we did.
But it strikes me that one element of representation that always takes a backseat to the point of being often downright ignored when it comes to conversations about DEI is the working class.
I think the original inclusivity issue is class. It long predates DE&I, I wonder how many amazing creative careers never happened because of it.
According to the previous All In Census in 2023, only 20% of the workforce identified as coming from a working class background compared to 48% of the UK population, a significant underrepresentation.
And considering the recent headlines about worsening representation of the working class in the creative industries as a whole, it could be that the results from this year’s All In paint an even bleaker picture when it comes to the inclusion of those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
A new study released last month found almost a third of major arts and creative leaders were educated privately, compared to a national average of 7%, and more than a quarter (26%) of chief executives went to Oxford or Cambridge, compared with less than 1% of the general population. Experts say the working class don’t stand a chance of getting a toehold in the creative industries today and things are getting worse and worse, with representation of the working class in the creative industries more than halving since the 1970s.
But having more working class talent in advertising is critical, and not just on the grounds of creating an equitable society, enabling social mobility, embracing meritocracy and making our industry the best it can be. If working class people aren’t involved in the creation of our work at every level, we can’t truly engage, represent and connect with almost half of the UK population and relate to wider society.
It’s also important for the health of art, culture and creativity in our country, because the advertising industry is such a fertile training ground for other creative disciplines when it comes to working class talent.
Look at the Oscars earlier this month – Wallace & Gromit creator Nick Park had a fifth nomination. He’s a British national treasure and world-class working class creative who started out in advertising – he shot to fame with his 1990 Creature Comforts ads which are still regularly voted as one of the UK’s favourite ad campaigns of all time.
Time and again, advertising has proven to be a great pathway for working class British creative talent. Look at Charlotte Regan, who grew up on a council estate in Islington. Her debut movie Scrapper won a Grand Jury Prize at The Sundance Film Festival in 2023 – and she honed her craft in advertising, with a number of brilliant commercials on her reel for the likes of British Airways, Macmillan and Cadbury.
In fact, the symbiotic relationship between advertising and film for working class talent has a long heritage. There’s the late, great Alan Parker, born into a working-class family and also raised on a council estate in Islington, who made his name making the likes of the Cinzano campaign starring Joan Collins and Leonard Rossiter before directing films. He went on to win six Academy Awards.
Then there’s the legendary Ridley Scott, who began his career making the likes of ‘Boy On The Bike’ Hovis ad, before going on to cinematic glory, directing classics including Alien and Blade Runner, and his much-missed brother Tony, who grew up with his brother in a working class family in South Shields, who started out making classic ads like this one for Saab, before going on to Top Gun and True Romance.
Whether ads or movies, we need more people on the other side of the camera from the same backgrounds as those they’re making work for, to make it relatable and appealing.
So I fear that the All In results this year will be a wake up call for the creative industry – that though we might congratulate ourselves on embracing some aspects of DEI, we are simply not doing enough to give working class talent a chance, let alone the opportunity to become huge successes, whichever path they eventually choose.
Only by urgently addressing the lack of working class people in the creative industry will we truly show ourselves to be ‘all in’ when it comes to representation – whatever your background.
Al Young is joint CCO St Luke’s.
