Facebook: The Difference Diversity Makes in Online Advertising | The 2021 MAKERS Conference

People around the world are demanding to see themselves better represented in advertising. They want to see the true diversity of their communities depicted more often—and more accurately—across many areas, including race, gender, sexual orientation and people with disabilities. These expectations apply to brands’ full range of marketing, including their online campaigns.

While there has been quite a bit of research examining diversity in traditional advertising, misrepresentation and underrepresentation in online advertising have not been looked at as closely. We wanted to better understand people’s expectations of representation online and the impact of diverse and inclusive digital campaigns, so we recently undertook a wide-ranging research project in partnership with experts in the field. The effort included a survey of 1,200 people, a review of more than 1,200 brand lift studies and an analysis conducted with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media of more than 1,000 Facebook video ads.