Reform MP Sarah Pochin says it ‘drives me mad seeing adverts full of black and Asian people’

[SerendipityJane]

Surely that's what colour TV was invented for ?

https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/sarah-pochin-reform-gb-news-advertising-black-asian-video-b2852382.html

This is a Pearl clutching echo chamber thread. Let me break the ‘stepford wives go woke’ vibe and say that the over representation of poc in ads is majorly patronising and an over compensation that looks like reverse racism. It’s ridiculous, often.

Its not an echo chamber, you're here. With your misogyny.🤷‍♀️

‘Stepford wives go woke vibe’

What a silly, yet amusing pov.

Do you agree with Arron Banks @Vaninees ?

He stood as Reform candidate for the West of England Mayor elections in May

@NeelyOHara she is an MP. Do you think she never goes to London?!

It is just Reform showing their true colours. In its soul the party is racist and xenophobic no matter how many times they try to rebrand themselves.

I can't see any other reason than racism for someone objecting to having non whites in commercial ads.

Also, advertisers and the companies that employ them are perfectly entitled to choose the people they want to advertise their products. Funny how freedom of speech/expression always is a one way street for Reform and their supporters...

I think I read somewhere that it is an objective fact that people of colour are over-represented in TV adverts. It doesn’t bother me as I hate all adverts anyway and don’t even watch TV - I suppose it would bother me if I was someone white who wanted to work in TV adverts and was not getting work because of my skin colour.

I didn't say it drove me mad.

Don't worry, white people are still over represented in tv adverts

From the report Pochin mentioned

Black people have a leading role in 23% of adverts. Asian people in 6% of adverts.

The white score is not given. (More than one group can have a leading role: it is probably 70-80%)

According to the 2021 census, approximately 13.3% of the UK population are Black or Asian, with Black groups making up about 4.0% and Asian groups making up about 9.3%. Perhaps someone should do an empirical study to determine whether these groups are over represented in adverts. Adverts are for going to the loo or making a cuppa

That’s a leading role though- I’m sure I read somewhere it was a fact

This concerns me a lot more
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/oct/25/reform-uk-kent-meeting-chaos-factionalism

I guess she's referring to this study from last month -

'It found that more than half of the commercials featured black people. According to the 2021 census, four per cent of the population of England and Wales is black.

However, the representation of disabled, elderly and pregnant people was lagging behind that for people of colour.

Disabled people were included in just four per cent of the TV adverts studied, despite them making up almost 18 per cent of the population.

People categorised as LGBTQIA+ appeared in two per cent of adverts, below the three per cent of the population they account for'.

Although how would you know if someone was gay from an advert....

Yes she's an MP who has to be in Parliament and have accommodation in London. She specifically specified outside the M25 adverts because no black or brown people live outside area. Plus she has no idea how the advertising industry works. Has she never heard of regional voice overs?

If Pochin's triggered by black and brown faces in London, why did she stand as an MP?

So we should really be concerned about Asian underrepresentation, although I’m sure that’s not what she meant!

She’s not a random woman though. She’s a Member of Parliament

This report maybe?

https://cdn-2.4sales.com/staging/2025-10/mirror-on-the-industry-full-written-report-2025-v3.pdf

I live in an area with close to zero black people. We do have many Asians and Arabs though. So for me adverts are not representative of this community. It's very clear that depending on where you live, informs your view of the demographics of the country. TV adverts are national, although mostly produced via London based agencies. MN is also very London centric, so it's not surprising a lot of pp's don't notice.

Do white people really sit there counting the number of brown and black people in adverts??

There was a time when brown and black people very much did this, and this was why things changed because there were so many calls for diversity of race being represented. So, I dont think the concept of noticing ethnic groups and counting representatation is a white person thing or a racist thing. A white woman in 2025 complaining about people of different races probably is though.

Did the clocks go back to 1939?

I agree that it doesn't matter to me who is in the adverts as I generally ignore them.

Unless as you say there is something particularly offensive or annoying about them.

I must say there is one advert which I'm struggling to ignore lately because ii's in virtually every Brookside advert break and that's the one with " Buffet Boy" in it.
I couldnt even tell you what it's advertising but I just don'tunderstand what it it's about and. It's so absolutely annoying it just grates on me.

💯

As a brown person, it’s nice to see myself represented in adverts after decades of non inclusivity. However I’m under no illusion that the change is for any other reason than to apply to a wider consumer base.

Every time I get a notification on this post I get the above quote. Just letting you know @utamea

I don't agree with your post.

Would she prefer state-controlled advertising?

What the actual fuck is wrong with these people?