Race
Race is often the first thing we think about when it comes to representative campaigns.
When it comes to race, many brands have already made steps to include a diverse range of skin tones and ethnicity in their marketing and people imagery. For instance, the marketing campaign for Fenty Beauty by Rihanna, which included foundation for a large number of skin tones, and the ‘share the love’ McDonalds campaign which ran in 2019, promoting unity between multiple races.
Despite these positive steps, there is still some way to go in representing a truly diverse population. For instance, many campaigns still lack true ethnic diversity - choosing only to represent black and white individuals, and often over looking Asian and mixed race ethnicities.
The temptation to make people ‘raceless’
When it comes to illustration or iconography, there is a temptation for designers to make characters ‘raceless’ in order to ‘get around’ the issues of diversity.
An example of this is in the development of the Alegria illustration style, used by Facebook. During development, designers originally gave characters an unnatural blue skin tone - indicating no particular race. However, they ultimately realised that this was more problematic than trying to incorporate multiple races and genders into the illustrations.
“If you think making all illustrated characters blue is a convenient way to get around asking some difficult questions, it isn’t. In fact, it’s incredibly problematic.”
Sex and Gender
The Equal Representation of Women
Gender is another characteristic that is at the forefront when it comes to how companies are already improving then it comes to representation. In particular, we see significantly more brands representing women in positions of power or in roles that traditionally we may not expect to see them. Take for example the recent ‘This Girl Can’ campaign from Sports England, which also largely succeeded in intersectional representation of different body types and ethnicity.
Women are also more regularly seen generally in advertising and branding campaigns, with more and more companies trying to create at least the same number of men and women used in an image.
“It’s not an exaggeration to say that when we create an illustration with multiple people, we are creating the power dynamics between them. We must consciously ask ourselves, for example, “Why is the character in charge of this meeting a white male?” The answer cannot be, “IDK, I just drew it that way.”
Trace Byrd Illustrator for Facebook Alegria
Representing All Gender Identities
Trans and non-binary gender identities on the other hand, are still extremely under-represented within brands and campaigns. In order to help combat the lack of diverse images available to the general public, Vice created a collection of images including subjects of a diverse gender and race, aiming to challenge stereotypes.
“The Gender Spectrum Collection is a stock photo library featuring images of trans and non-binary models that go beyond the clichés. This collection aims to help media better represent members of these communities as people not necessarily defined by their gender identities—people with careers, relationships, talents, passions, and home lives.”
Vice’s Gender Photos
Age
Representing the Elderly as Frail
While there is often as effort in workplace photography to include a token older person within a group of colleagues, the majority of visuals portraying seniors tends to focus on what they can’t do, rather than what they can.
For instance, according to the 2020 Getty Images Visual GPS Report, seniors make up the majority of visuals representing disability, and are most likely to appear in healthcare and medicine - related situations.
Getty also found that they are 25% less likely than younger people to appear in scenarios featuring technology.
“At 25% of the population, this audience is anything but niche.”
MarketingWeek - Is age the final diversity frontier for marketers?
Positive Representation
Age is a characteristic which often overlaps with gender, particularly - women in the media are treated much more harshly as they age than men.
Often, brands tend not to include images of older people because they fear alienating a younger audience. However, when L’Oréal partnered with Vogue to create the ‘Non-Issue’ issue, featuring women over 50, they found that by championing older women, they also gained favour with women in their 30’s.
Similarly, MarketingWeek found that it is young people between the ages of 18 and 24 who most want to see women breaking age stereotypes in the media.
This suggests that a more diverse representation of age in branding and marketing campaigns would appeal not just to an older audience, but also to a younger one.
Disability
Physical Disabilities
Similarly to how one older person is often depicted in a group to represent age, the representation of physical disability often comes down to showing a single person in a wheelchair in the name of inclusivity. However, some brands are taking steps to improve representation.
One of the most successful examples comes from AirBnB, who have a range of inclusive illustrations, ranging from a character using a cane, to one with a cochlea implant - a more unusual representation of a hearing disability.
In 2020, Gucci ran a successful campaign championing a model with Down Syndrome, created for those who “dare to express and embrace their differences!”
Microsoft also ran a successful “We all Win” Campaign, which coincided with the launch of their game controllers more suited to players with physical and visual impairments. They also ran campaign images featuring children with a range of physical disabilities.
Representing Neurodivergence
Neurodivergence is defined as “diversity of thinking”. This can include people with certain diagnoses such as ADHD and autism, and people with mental health disorders, however, not all neurodivergent people fall into one of these groups.
Visually representing neurodivergence is much more difficult than representing a physical disability, because there are often no clear markers to indicate that a person might be neurodivergent. However, it is estimated that 15-20% of the population identify as neurodivergent - so representation is still important!
AirBnB are once again leading the way in the visual representation of neurodiversity. For instance, by listening to an autistic employee, they learnt to include specific gestures and aids such as noise cancelling headphones in illustrations. This sort of subtle detail may not be immediately noticeable to neurotypical people, but goes a long way towards a more inclusive brand style.
“Through conversations with the disability community, we’re learning how to create illustrations in a way that respects their perspective.”
AirBnB
Kuala Lumpur, MY
Level 30, The Gardens North Tower Mid Valley City, Lingkaran Syed Putra 59200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia +44 (0) 161 528 9451
© Epigram Communications & Design Limited
Kuala Lumpur, MY
Level 30, The Gardens North Tower Mid Valley City, Lingkaran Syed Putra 59200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia +44 (0) 161 528 9451
© Epigram Communications & Design Limited