COMMENT UK Politics Advertising Reform UK United Kingdom Racism Sarah Pochin Business Marketing

Might an ad with many kinda faces be meant for more people to spend?

Reform MP Sarah Pochin decries “diverse” UK adverts as unrepresentative, yet studies show inclusive campaigns boost profits, suggesting brands’ real goal is broader appeal and higher sales, not ideology.

by Rashmee Roshan Lall

Updated 31-Oct-2025

I suppose I should be glad I’m not in one of those adverts that are driving UK Reform MP Sarah Pochin “mad”.

You know the sort I mean.

The Sainsbury’s advert for “good food for all of us”, the “us” being a young white child, a brown man, a dark-skinned older woman, a teenage (or tweenage) white girl and her white mother.

The Marks & Spencer advert “for every woman you are”, white, black, brown, cream, golden, fat, thin, big-boned, young, middle-aged, older, whatever.

The idea behind such adverts is not to privilege the so-called “black pound”, which is to say the spending power of non-white people. Even at an estimated £4.5 billion, according to 2022 figures, the black pound does not run to such an extensive shopping list as white British people can afford.

So, what’s the point of diversity in advertising?

According to Reform MP Sarah Pochin, “adverts full of black people, full of Asian people” are about demographics of advertising. She said the viewer was “absolutely right” and added: “It doesn’t reflect our society” and “your average white person, average white family is … not represented any more”.

Then again, a 2024 advertising study of 392 brands across 58 countries found that inclusive ad campaigns had a “positive impact on profits, sales and brand worth”.

So, might an ad campaign with many kinda faces just be meant to get more people to spend more? And isn’t that the basic reason a business advertises in the first place? Is this not something a supposedly commonsense populist party like Reform should understand from the off?