Diversity drops in US advertising, ANA finds

Ethnic diversity in the US advertising and marketing industry took a step backward in 2023, according to the ANA, declining by almost two percentage points since a 2022 high, reflecting a widespread deprioritization of diversity initiatives across the industry. 

Why diversity in advertising matters

First, if advertising is only 30.8% diverse – the figure reported by the ANA for 2023 – then there is a considerable gap with the US population, which is 42.2% ethnically diverse. In effect, this constitutes a serious blind spot for an industry that needs to reflect culture. 

Supporting DEI is clearly the right thing to do, but from a marketing effectiveness perspective, the big challenge is conclusively proving that more diverse advertising leads to more effective outcomes. For more on this, check out WARC’s DEI hub for evidence, examples, and expertise on how to improve diversity in advertising. 

The report

Based on a sample of 88 ANA member companies’ US-based marketing departments (a total of 19,949 marketers), the report found: 

• The overall ethnic skew declined from 32.3 percent in 2022 to 30.8 percent in 2023. 
• 2023 constitutes the first decline since 2019. 
• Elsewhere in the research, the proportion of women in the industry at both entry (68.9%) and very senior (57.7%) levels indicate that the industry has firmly shifted away from its male-dominated past. The ANA suggests companies must also look at the reasons why so few men are joining the industry.

While the proposed reasons behind declines are multiple, the fact that they come amid widespread layoffs suggests that gains made in hiring were lost as a result of a “last in, first out” policy, a report in Ad Age suggests. 

Sourced from the ANA, Ad Age