To be annoyed at McCains advert

[Shouldputcheeseonit]

Not just McCains doing it but theirs is particularly annoying. Companies now are really going for the adverts with mixed race families, L and G families (have any tried BT or Q?), and families with someone with a disability. I am an outspoken ambassador for inclusion and equality (and proud to say my family contains some of these elements) but I feel annoyed at how these companies are using this to advertise and make money. Car adverts, supermarkets, all sorts. It’s only this year they’ve started, it’s like they are using BLM and other areas of heightened awareness for their own gains, and it bothers me.
Rant over. Anyone else noticed?

I thought you’d be annoyed about their portrayal of lockdown as cozy family time. Fucking hate that. It’s not how I remember it, I was and still am working 50+ hours a week

Me too. I feel like no adverts at the moment actually speak to me. Not everybody has had cosy family time since April.

Mind you, all adverts make me seethe so I'm probably not a good target audience for anything.

I personally love the McCains ads - think they're great in recognising that families come in all shapes and sizes and that's OK.
Not just your mum, dad, boy and girl.

My family set-up is my fiancé, our baby daughter and, for half of the time, my two older boys from my ex-husband (10 and 13). My eldest struggled a bit at first as he thought that nearly everybody else had the "traditional" family.

Think it's great that ads like this are challenging that.

I sort of know what you mean, OP, though I also understand how people on this thread have taken it. Representation in the media is important, some companies are too “try-hard” to be “woke”.

See this article on brands that took Pride too far:

mashable.com/article/brands-pride-2019/

My black ex husband once said "are there any non mixed couples on TV anymore?!"

And got accused of being racist. Which I didnt understand.

The majority of people in this world are not middle class white people.

Don’t be stupid. So they’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t. I actually think that the adverts shown at the moment are not representative of the population. There are far far many BAME in adverts now, and certainly outnumber white people, which isn’t representative of the population of the U.K. So i think you need to embrace it fgs.

@IWantT0BreakFree

If these companies really cared, they'd fill their board rooms with BAME, LGBT and people with disabilities. But they don't. That's why it annoys me. It's like a minimum effort thing to get social media likes.

Exactly this ^

Your point is valid, OP. Tokenism is not diversity. I don't know if PPs are genuinely not able to understand what you're saying or they're just enjoying the opportunity to be obnoxious.

Who says it's tokenism? You? Maybe the creator of the advert has a close family member with, for example, a prosthetic arm. So includes a person with a prosthetic arm in his film or advert or photo shoot because why not? It's perfectly natural to him that someone with a prosthesis would be included in his work. Then someone like you comes along and calls it tokenism. Imagine being the person who says that.

Presumably companies have realised they can sell more stuff by getting more people to identify with their advertising?
I'm not sure how you'd represent Q people in advertising though? A heterosexual couple with blue hair, maybe 🤔

I agree OP. It seems like a lazy half hearted attempt to suddenly jump on the bandwagon to ensure that they protect their profits. I doubt that any of these companies have suddenly become enlightened.

@Shouldputcheeseonit

Not just McCains doing it but theirs is particularly annoying. Companies now are really going for the adverts with mixed race families, L and G families (have any tried BT or Q?), and families with someone with a disability. I am an outspoken ambassador for inclusion and equality (and proud to say my family contains some of these elements) but I feel annoyed at how these companies are using this to advertise and make money. Car adverts, supermarkets, all sorts. It’s only this year they’ve started, it’s like they are using BLM and other areas of heightened awareness for their own gains, and it bothers me. Rant over. Anyone else noticed?

Yes, can’t help but notice. It’s getting so that it’s quite ridiculous...there has to be one white, one black, one mixed race, one L and G in every single advert now...how many average families does that actually represent I wonder.

Its capitalism, not public service broadcasting

I must admit I hadn't noticed.

I think what is different this past year is that companies have become more politically aligned and powerful - instead of selling washing powder, they do it with a hefty side of whatever charity or campaign they support - I only bloody want them to sell me washing powder.

Who remembers ‘Daddy or Chips'?

When I see my Dparents or sibs the only acceptable response to any mention of chips is 'Sophie, which d'you like best, daddy or chips?' in a Welsh accent . Similarly any talk of death/heaven must be countered with 'when Scruffy dies, will he go to Devon?' (Ambrosia cream rice ad). Possibly our childhood memories are too tv ad based!?

I work in an advertising role and we always look at casting to ensure we show a diverse range of people. Its mainly to engage by showing people who look like they audience, but is also to prevent criticism if we are perceived to be too male, pale and stale.

Is it proportionate to BAME and disable people as a percentage of the country's population? No. Is it tokenism in order to avoid making sincere changes in what the company values? Yes. And that's why it passes me off; it's virtue signalling designed to make more money.

VodselForDinner your comment above is exactly why I cannot get on board with the current movement.

Your comment "Maybe somewhere there’s a little girl or boy out there looking at tv and thinking “that familyeating shit chipsis just like us!”" actually fills me with dread as a mixed race female.

In 2020 I had hoped that there would be no them and us.

I hoped that the world would just see people for who they are, not the colour of their skin, who respect each other and are treated no different.

It's what I hate about companies who are doing this, they are not doing it because they are striving for change, or putting real policies in place to make positive change. They are doing it because its the latest marketing buzz.

I say bring on inclusively, but it also needs to represent the population, all ages, sexes and various groups to be inclusive.

I worry about the working class boys and their lack of opportunities as much as I do about black boys opportunities, both with common issues, but also different issues to tackle. As a country, what are we going to do longer term, how do we identify the issues if we cannot objectively look at the wider issues and discuss them?

The issues in the UK are different than the USA, I have travelled to areas in the USA with a large black population and I was horrified at the lifestyle differences, the UK does not have that issue.

Until we lose the them and us, we are so far from inclusivity that most people ignore the real issues in the UK and think that we are on course to solve the United Kingdom's diversity.

I think some of it is a bit lazy and uninspired, but a lot less so than sticking to white heterosexual couples and sexual stereotypes for roles as has been the case for the vast majority of advertising since TV ads started.

It may take some getting used to for non-white actors not to stick out on screen because we've been so conditioned to TV being such a sea of white but I think that's well worth the effort. I only hope they persevere and don't let it be a fad.

That ASDA advert is the most annoying advert in history!

Adverts is understandable. But when it's anachronistic historical stuff it annoys me, even in terms of the historical character's behaviour, attitudes etc.

If they wanted to portray a minority's life in history they could portray a minority's life and what it was like, rather than lie and say Achilles or Ann Boleyn were black.

Erm, I’ve noticed that mixed race families have been featured in adverts for years, especially Christmas advert, a Malteasers advert featured a woman who was physically disabled a couple of years ago, Down Syndrome children have been used in an M&S advert and a Gucci campaign I believe. Great isn’t it. I don’t think anybody is jumping on the bandwagon.

@Unhomme I wondered about that actually. I'm on the marketing side so I keep reading about including BAME for social media love. But the opposite could also be true. Nobody wants to be the brand that's gone viral for not including any BAME, LGBT etc. Nobody wants criticism.

Asexuals of all ethnicities are under represented.

@EveryDayIsADuvetDay

Asexuals of all ethnicities are under represented.

How do you know?