RAF wins diversity award for advert mocking stereotypes

An RAF advert has won Channel 4s Diversity In Advertising Award, which comes with £1m of free airtime on the channel. Picture: PA

The provocative campaign is the recipient of the broadcaster’s Diversity In Advertising Award, a commitment to help improve diversity in advertising each year until 2020.

Brands and agencies were asked to come up with ideas that confronts the portrayal of women in adverts.

The RAF commercial, which mocks the gender stereotypes often seen in other mainstream advertising by comparing them to the women on the frontline in the force, was due to air for the first time last night on during the Channel 4 programme The Last Leg.

The RAF, whose advert was created by agency Engine, saw off competition from shortlisted brands Cadbury Milk Tray, eBay and Flybe to win the award.

The campaign launches as early findings from a new survey looking at diversity in advertising show that the main issue in adverts is the roles in which women are portrayed as having, rather than overall levels of representation.

The research, commissioned by Channel 4, studied the 1,000 most-watched TV adverts across a four-week period, and found that women are shown in stereotypical and sometimes derogatory ways.

In adverts where women have a clearly defined role, just over 40 per cent of them had women in homemaker or housewife positions, according to the study.

Matt Salmon, Channel 4’s head of agency and client sales, said: “This RAF advert clearly illustrates the difference between how women are portrayed in advertising, compared to the realities of everyday life for a woman serving in the RAF.

“It is a worthy recipient of £1 million of our airtime and given that our research shows that women are typically shoehorned into derogatory or stereotypical roles, campaigns such as this are long overdue.

“We hope that other brands now follow the RAF’s lead in considering how women are portrayed within advertising.”

Air Vice-Marshal Chris Elliot, Chief of Staff Personnel and Air Secretary RAF, said: “The Royal Air Force has been delighted to have worked on this venture with Channel 4 and Engine, allowing us to showcase the vast range of exciting opportunities available, regardless of gender.

“As an inclusive employer, the Royal Air Force continues to support each and every one of our personnel noting that they are as unique as the roles they fill.”