Transport for London advert banned...

[RobbieTheTruth]

White men always have to be the bad guys on TV. And now, we can see why.

A Transport for London advert has been banned for portraying a black man as an aggressor. It seems only Caucasian males are allowed to be villains.

Transport for London has had to pull part of its latest video campaign against harassment of female passengers because, in the offending clip, the man who was shown pestering a woman happened to be black (while the woman happened to be white).

And, after receiving a single complaint from the public, the Advertising Standards Authority ruled that the clip “had the effect of perpetuating a negative racial stereotype about black men as perpetrators of threatening behaviour”.

No one wants to be accused of “perpetuating a negative racial stereotype”. So it’s best to play safe, and make sure that the bad guys are white.

https://archive.is/20260218133329/https://www.tele...

[Randy Winkman]

Shouldn't the baddie be a white guy because there are way more white people than black in the UK? That makes it more like real life.

[tim0409]

Randy Winkman said:

Shouldn't the baddie be a white guy because there are way more white people than black in the UK? That makes it more like real life.

I would be interested to see the ethnicity stats for those who perpetrate harassment against women on the London underground; I wonder if those stats are freely available?

[SlimJim16v]

tim0409 said:

I would be interested to see the ethnicity stats for those who perpetrate harassment against women on the London underground; I wonder if those stats are freely available?

The stats will be racist.

[dundarach]

SlimJim16v said:

tim0409 said:

I would be interested to see the ethnicity stats for those who perpetrate harassment against women on the London underground; I wonder if those stats are freely available?

The stats will be racist.

Eh?

[Ridgemont]

Randy Winkman said:

Shouldn't the baddie be a white guy because there are way more white people than black in the UK? That makes it more like real life.

They usually are (this from a tfl ad from last year). I have to admit as a relatively infrequent user of the tube I have never seen a besuited white male commuter harassing anyone on the tube but there you go….

[RobbieTheTruth]

Randy Winkman said:

Shouldn't the baddie be a white guy because there are way more white people than black in the UK? That makes it more like real life.

So blacks shouldn't be represented because there are more whites?

[dxg]

We all need to start complaining to the ASA when white people are portrayed as being the baddies. Their response would reveal any bias.

[Randy Winkman]

RobbieTheTruth said:

Randy Winkman said:

Shouldn't the baddie be a white guy because there are way more white people than black in the UK? That makes it more like real life.

So blacks shouldn't be represented because there are more whites?

With my wink I'm alluding to the argument on PH and elsewhere about there being too many non-white people in advertising.

[scenario8]

Ridgemont said:

They usually are (this from a tfl ad from last year). I have to admit as a relatively infrequent user of the tube I have never seen a besuited white male commuter harassing anyone on the tube but there you go .

On my phone that thumbnail really, REALLY looked like me!

Set off the hairs on the back of my neck.

For clarity while I may be found besuited and on the tube I can’t recall falling into the harasser category.

Seems another unnecessary ASA intervention but I imagine they will have their cheerleaders and I imagine they’ll be along again soon with another mildly newsworthy decision.

TfL, by the way, must have an advertising budget that would shame Croesus.

[RobbieTheTruth]

Randy Winkman said:

RobbieTheTruth said:

Randy Winkman said:

Shouldn't the baddie be a white guy because there are way more white people than black in the UK? That makes it more like real life.

So blacks shouldn't be represented because there are more whites?

With my wink I'm alluding to the argument on PH and elsewhere about there being too many non-white people in advertising.

Yeah I got it. Don't think I've heard the argument of zero non-whites though.

But you're right re. over-representation. Data from ndustry reports indicate that Black people are significantly over-represented in UK television advertising compared to their population share (approximately 4% in the 2021 census). Following 2020, the proportion of ads featuring Black people rose to roughly 51% by 2024–2025.

So country is 4% black, but they are in 51% of adverts, but you're now not allowed to depict a black guy committing a crime.

Edited by RobbieTheTruth on Wednesday 18th February 20:56

[BikeBikeBIke]

RobbieTheTruth said:

the Advertising Standards Authority ruled that the clip had the effect of perpetuating a negative racial stereotype about black men as perpetrators of threatening behaviour .

So which "races" can be depicted as perpetrators of threatening behavior and which can't?

[Chimune]

RobbieTheTruth said:

So country is 4% black, but they are in 51% of adverts, but you're now not allowed to depict a black guy committing a crime.

Boo. fking. hoo.

Edited by Chimune on Wednesday 18th February 22:20

[FiF]

If it's the advert I'm thinking of seem to recall a white guy sat beside the girl and was also part of the harassment. Maybe my memory is faulty but don't think so.

[JoshSm]

Good to see how many people didn't bother checking the background detail, like how this related to a short form advert pulled from a longer one.

The original contained multiple scenarios, with multiple ethnicities.

The short forms broke this up.

Oddly only one of the short form ads was considered 'problematic' even though the campaign went out of it's way to be balanced.

One complaint, no obvious bias or overt stereotyping overall, but pulled regardless because in the wrong situation people might, just possibly, get the wrong idea.

[JoshSm]

FiF said:

If it's the advert I'm thinking of seem to recall a white guy sat beside the girl and was also part of the harassment. Maybe my memory is faulty but don't think so.

You remember correctly.

[Terminator X]

What happened to equality

If you look at current TV ads all the families seem to be mixed race so why not the same for "violence"

TX.

[Terminator X]

dundarach said:

SlimJim16v said:

tim0409 said:

I would be interested to see the ethnicity stats for those who perpetrate harassment against women on the London underground; I wonder if those stats are freely available?

The stats will be racist.

Eh?

Parrot incoming.

TX.

[RobbieTheTruth]

BikeBikeBIke said:

RobbieTheTruth said:

the Advertising Standards Authority ruled that the clip had the effect of perpetuating a negative racial stereotype about black men as perpetrators of threatening behaviour .

So which "races" can be depicted as perpetrators of threatening behavior and which can't?

I would hazard a guess that whites can be depicted as perpetrators of threatening behavior, and everything else would be considered racist.

Funny thing was, a day ago, this would have been laughed off like a Stewart Lee joke.

But it's actually happened.

[RobbieTheTruth]

Chimune said:

RobbieTheTruth said:

So country is 4% black, but they are in 51% of adverts, but you're now not allowed to depict a black guy committing a crime.

Boo. fking. hoo.

Edited by Chimune on Wednesday 18th February 22:20

You think it's good/fair/sensible that you aren't allowed to depict a black guy committing a crime?