Transport for London advert banned...
Discussion
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...
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 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? That makes it more like real life.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…. That makes it more like real life.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? That makes it more like real life.
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.
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? That makes it more like real life.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
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?RobbieTheTruth said:
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.
I found it amusing that a recent NSPCC advertBut 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.
None of the actors playing groomer/abusers are anything other than White....
But then the NSPCC has always been a s
t show. That does very very little that actually helps children who need help.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.
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.
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?Funny thing was, a day ago, this would have been laughed off like a Stewart Lee joke.
But it's actually happened.
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