The creative industries have a classism issue. That much is clear – for those with a state-educated background at least.
Those hailing from the roughly 8% of the population educated at private schools will likely have an entirely different outlook altogether – that’s if they even acknowledge there is an issue in the first place.
The reasons for the imbalance are too complex to break down in one article – but the cold hard facts are this: Despite making up less than 10% of the British public, privately-educated individuals currently account for 20% of all advertising professionals.
This doesn’t even take into account the rest of the creative sector. Think about it, when was the last time you heard an A-list British actor speak without an upper-middle-class twinge? (Tom Hardy was privately educated before you ask).
What makes this all the more alarming is that it wasn’t always the case – with recent Creative Access estimates suggesting that the number of working-class creatives has halved since the 1970s.
Seeds planted in austerity
How did it get this bad? One possible answer would be the Conservative government’s decision to initiate a programme of austerity in June 2010, which helped facilitate the working-class creative desert that has come to roost a decade and a half later.
Touched upon in a recent pre-election school visit, the Labour party leader Keir Starmer claimed that Tory policies have “hammered the uptake of arts subjects in state schools”.
While it is naturally in his best interest to say so, the evidence is quite damning. The 2010s and early 2020s saw the Conservative government repeatedly prioritising the core subjects of maths, science and English within the state curriculum at the expense of music, the arts and humanities.
And that has undoubtedly left us with a generation or two who have neither the skills, nor the interest, to enter into the creative industries.
The evidence is clear, and government-backed organisations such as the Advertising Association (AA) aren’t shy about it.
“Those from lower socio-economic backgrounds are significantly under-represented in the ad industry workforce at just 20%, despite making up 40% of the population,” the AA’s commercial director and talent and inclusion lead, Sharon Lloyd-Barnes tells Marketing Beat.
“Certain sectors also have an over-reliance on those that went to fee-paying schools (19% vs 8% of population) and graduates (72% vs 42% of population).”
Class is left out of the conversation
The AA’s stats back up Creative Access’ recent report into the subject, which found that 73% of working-class people within the industry believed that working-class representation was lacking most at senior level.
Creative Access’ CEO Bibi Hilton believes diversity and inclusion initiatives typically overlook class as a barrier to success.
“The lack of class representation is pervasive across the creative industries and the data proves it,” she says.
“Diversity and inclusion initiatives tend to focus on ethnicity, gender and disability, and rightly so. However, class is often left out of this conversation. In 2022, figures showed that the number of working class creatives have halved since the 1970s.
“Our own recent findings exposed that the very people producing our cultural output – who need to represent the audiences they serve – feel that working class under-representation is a serious problem in the industry, especially at senior level.”
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It’s not what you know, it’s who you know
The lack of opportunity for working-class people is not the only reason privately educated people tend to dominate the industry’s leadership.
Rather, the imbalance is a direct reflection of UK society – those who attend fee-paying schools are likely to be broadly better qualified and can rely on the ‘bank of mum and dad’ to take career-boosting but low-paying internships to get their foot in the door.
The power of private school networking can also be seen throughout the sector – after all, 8% is a rather small number, and an awful lot of them seem to know each other quite well.
Shedding light on how strong connections are within the industry, St. Luke’s CEO Neil Henderson explains: “Lack of representation in the industry is pervasive. The friends and family of those already connected to the industry could easily fill all our recruitment needs but we have always strived to resist this.”
Hilton agrees: “Without input from a range of backgrounds, the creative industries risk losing the diverse perspectives and stories that working-class people bring. The space still largely operates on the adage ‘it’s not what you know, but who you know’.
“Class seems to be the one area of DE&I that we’re at risk of ignoring – and the conversation is only just starting.”
Ironically, the people who benefit from this privileged leg-up in life are often blissfully unaware that they had a 30-second head start on the rest of the competition in the first place.
“A key area of concern is the disparity in perceptions of working-class challenges between upper and upper-middle classes,” Hilton continues.
“Our research revealed that two-thirds (67%) of upper/upper-middle-class respondents believe there is equal reward for working-class people in the workplace, compared to one in three working-class respondents. So, the first step is to recognise class-based discrimination and then take tangible action to address it.”
How can the industry even things up?
Promisingly, the industry is now taking concrete steps to remedy the inequalities that have plagued it for many years.
Agencies such as Henderson’s St.Luke’s, as well as Pablo and VML, have started to introduce their own voluntary living wage for staff: £30,000 per year at St. Luke’s and Pablo, £28,000 at VML. A range of internship opportunities and developmental programmes are also being launched to give people from less advantaged background a more level footing.
“15% of the agency started in our internship programme, or as a creative placement, and are paid the London Living Wage,” Henderson says.
“We have also launched Flying Start, a fully paid, nine-week, positive action training scheme in partnership with social mobility charity, The Brokerage.
At a national level, the AA is also actively working to ensure the workforce is more diverse and inclusive, starting with its biennial ‘All In’ survey and action plan, which is run in partnership with the IPA and ISBA and addresses a range of issues, including class.
To date, over 100 companies have become All In Champions by showing they have made changes to improve the experience of under-represented talent.
Crossing the class divide
Senior leadership is now more diverse than ever, with more women and people from ethnic minority backgrounds represented than ever before – but how many of these cross the class divide? If we want to see true, tangible balance within the creative industries it must be reflected in the boardroom.
“While many employers are committed to improving diversity at junior level, specialised support and mentoring also needs to be in place at mid-senior level, to retain and develop employees from lower socioeconomic backgrounds,” says Hilton.
“It’s vital that employers invest in inclusive recruitment practices; bias training; career development programmes for all levels; and, importantly during the cost of living crisis, address the material inequalities that exist for people from working-class backgrounds.”
The class-based divide in the sector is something we mustn’t lose sight of, if purely for the selfish purposes of producing better, more interesting work. After all – how much truly great content comes out of a social echo chamber?
The marketing and advertising industry needs to be able to tap into a wide range of lived experiences if it is to maintain some semblance of character over the next few decades.
Otherwise it faces becoming fast irrelevant.
