Kantar said its data showed that the percentage of UK ads featuring women aged over 40 climbed to 35% in 2024, versus 23% globally.

The UK is more inclusive of diverse female body types at almost twice the global rate, with 28% of UK ads featuring different body types in 2024.

However, the data showed that only 7% of UK ads featuring women showed them in non-traditional roles, versus a global figure of 6% – a statistic that hadn’t changed since 2023.

Kantar said the average percentile performance on its Female Gender Unstereotype Metric and Male Gender Unstereotype Metrics by sector showed that, on average, performance on for men was higher than for women in most categories, particularly in alcoholic drinks, appliances and technology, and food.

Female portrayals were stronger in the personal care and travel advertising categories.

The metrics were co-created with the Unstereotype Alliance to measure whether consumers believe the female and male characters in an advertisement are being portrayed in a positive way. 

The data is based on more than 28,500 adverts from Kantar’s LINK+ database across 72 countries, 3,600 brands and 280 categories, while the Unstereotype Metrics are questions asked in every LINK+ stud, which are consumer-based pre-testing surveys.

Sarah Morrell, senior lead for creative at Kantar, said: “There are green shoots of progress in the different types of women being shown in ads, but it’s not just about who we see in advertising, it’s about how people are portrayed too. Unfortunately, the way that women are represented seems to be stuck in the past. 

“It’s been proved time and time again that inclusive advertising sells. The UN Women Unstereotype Alliance and Oxford Saïd Business School’s Inclusion = Income study, to which Kantar contributed, found that ads which show diverse characters portrayed positively and/or progressively boost sales by 3.5% in the short term, and by 16.3% in the long run.

“Amid some turbulent political discourse on diversity, equity and inclusion, there’s an opportunity for UK brands to lead and for their businesses to benefit as a result.”