INCLUSIVE ADVERTISING
THE RISKS OF FALLING INTO THE STEREOTYPE TRAP Linda Nilsson is the CEO of the Swedish Association of Communication agencies (KOMM). As KOMM launches new research on inclusion and representation in Swedish advertising, she shares how accurately the ad industry is reflecting society at large – and the impact it has
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hat does representation mean to you? For me, it’s about making sure every voice is equal and heard. Representation needs to be based on the Swedish population. But often we are presented with media or advertising that doesn’t truly represent the world around
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us or the communities we live in. At KOMM, we wanted to understand how Sweden is faring when it comes to inclusion and representation in advertising. We conducted a study in partnership with Sveriges Annonsörer (the body for Swedish Advertisers), Google Sweden, and the Geena Davis
Institute. Together, we analysed representation within top advertising campaigns that were nominated for three prestigious awards over the course of six years (2015-2020). We looked at this in the context of Swedish demographics, while also reviewing the use of stereotypes within these campaigns. This is what we found:
