Royal Air Force advert challenging sexist stereotypes wins £1m of free airtime

A ROYAL Air Force advert that challenges sexist stereotypes of women in advertising was debuted last night after winning £1m of free airtime on Channel 4.

The provocative campaign is the recipient of the broadcaster’s Diversity In Advertising Award, a commitment to help improve diversity in advertising each year until 2020.

Brands and agencies were asked to come up with ideas that confront the portrayal of women in adverts.

The RAF commercial, which mocks gender stereotypes often seen in other mainstream advertising by comparing them to the women on the force’s frontline, was set to air for the first time during Channel 4’s The Last Leg.

Created alongside the agency Engine, the RAF advert fended off competition from shortlisted brands Cadbury Milk Tray, eBay and Flybe for the accolade.

The campaign launches as early findings from a new survey looking at diversity in advertising show that the main issue is the roles in which women are portrayed as having, rather than overall levels of representation.

The research, commissioned by Channel 4, studied the 1,000 most-watched TV adverts across a four week period in which women are shown in stereotypical and sometimes derogatory ways.

In adverts where women have a clearly defined role, just over 40 per cent of them had women in homemaker or housewife positions, according to the study.

Matt Salmon, Channel 4’s head of agency and client sales, said: “This RAF advert clearly illustrates the difference between how women are portrayed in advertising, compared to the realities of everyday life for a woman serving in the RAF.

“It is a worthy recipient of £1m of our airtime and given that our research shows that women are typically shoehorned into derogatory or stereotypical roles, campaigns such as this are long overdue. We hope that other brands now follow the RAF’s lead in considering how women are portrayed within advertising.”