Brands can no longer get away with “tokenism” by simply plonking people of various ethnicities, backgrounds, and appearances in their advertising; the vast majority (80%) of consumers believe companies must do a far better job at capturing people’s true lifestyles and cultures to remain “relevant”.
That is according to a new study by Getty Images, in a second wave of research for its creative insights platform, Visual GPS, completed in conjunction with YouGov.
The Visual GPS Summer Update also reveals that most people (60%) prefer to buy brands that are founded by or represent people like themselves. These results hold steady across generations and gender, with only modest differences across global regions.
Getty Images global head of creative insights Dr Rebecca Swift said: “The first Visual GPS study conducted prior to the Covid-19 pandemic showed us how important representation is to people and we continued to track this through the last four months.
“The Summer Update shows that amid the pandemic, and despite massive changes in people’s lives, the demand for more diversity in visual communications has only increased.”
The company reports similar findings in its global customer search data, with searches increasing year over year for ‘diversity’ (up 133%), ‘culture’ (up 115%), ‘real people’ (up 115%) and ‘inclusion’ (up 126%).
Additionally, from May to June alone customer searches on the Getty Images site for diverse images increased by 200% and searches for images around unity and equality increased by 500%, trends the company believes were further intensified as a result of anti-racism protests throughout June.
Dr Swift added: “Our data and research tells us there’s a clear appetite to tell, hear and see inclusive stories, but brands and businesses must go beyond tokenistic inclusion to intentionally create advertising and business communications which truly capture people’s authentic lifestyles and culture.
These Visual GPS findings around representation have resulted from a larger body of ongoing quantitative research that deals with global issues, by industry segment, related to use of visual content.
This update is the latest effort by Getty Images to address under-representation and misrepresentation of different groups in visual communications.
The company – which just so happens to hold the biggest photo library in the world – says it has spent over a decade working to break down stereotypes and create more authentic content which it has done through commercial imagery collections including Muslimgirl.com, Nosotros, The Disability Collection and Project ShowUs.
Grounded in 25 years of Getty Images research into visual representation, Visual GPS explores how consumers are influenced by four key “forces”—technology, sustainability, realness and wellness—and what that means in terms of their decision making.
The new insights stem from the second global survey Getty Images has undertaken in partnership with YouGov, for which over 5,000 consumers were surveyed across 26 countries and in 13 languages.
The Visual GPS Summer Update found that most people encounter bias, with three-fifths (62%) feeling they have been discriminated against. Notably, this particular sentiment is more common among Gen Z relative to other generations, among women relative to men, and by consumers in the Americas, relative to Europe and APAC.
Respondents in North America, relative to Europe or APAC said they experience discrimination based on the colour of their skin (57%) and more so than any other region, discrimination is seen as being based in people making assumptions about their background (53%).
In Europe, those who feel discriminated against on the basis of race/ethnicity are most likely to say this is because of assumptions being made about their nationality or country of origin (56%).
Of people who feel they have been discriminated against, only 14% say they are well-represented in advertising, and business communications are only marginally better at 15%.
“There’s clearly room for improvement when it comes to representation, as evidenced by Visual GPS findings, which also suggests significant opportunities,” said Dr Swift. “We recognise our challenge and opportunity in supporting our global customer base toward content choices which reflect consumer preference. This research will form the basis for a number of tools which will help brands and businesses on this journey.”
To partner the new report, Getty Images has released an Inclusive Visual Search Guide. Developed from Visual GPS research findings, the tool has been designed to assist brands and businesses in making intentional content choices which drive authentic and inclusive representation in visual communications.
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