Our reports
The advertising and media industry is quick to acknowledge how important diverse backgrounds, experiences and ways of thinking (or habitus) are for creativity and effectiveness. But only now does Adland seem to be discovering its elitism.
Much activity focuses on gender and ethnicity in the industry. And when initiatives do address class, they centre on auditing and measuring, or improving entry for (mostly) young, working class talent (IPA and Social Mobility Commission, 2021). We’d also seen projects aimed at solving the social and economic barriers, with new networking groups or scholarships and free training. All of this is of course important work. But we felt there was a gap in Adland’s knowledge. How was cultural capital making it so difficult for working class people to enter and progress in the industry? And so we began this journey determined to understand what exactly was holding back working class representation in Adland.
The advertising and media industry can only improve the situation if it gets to the root of the problem. And let's face it, Adland really needs to, as “less than half of the ads on TV today are likely to have the emotional impact needed for long-term growth.” (Wood 2019, p18). The evidence shows it really needs to improve working class representation if it wants any hope of reversing its steady decline in creative and effective work (Wood, Tenzer and Murray 2019, Harrison 2020). The industry desperately needs working class cultural capital - and if it doesn't start exploiting it, Adland can kiss goodbye to clients and profit.
Helping agencies to become E Corps, and working with certified E Corps across the country, means no one understands cultural capital in advertising and media like us. We occupy a unique position.
We’ve gained unprecedented access to the industry through developing and using our app, and our members’ best practice and experiences. Now, we’re sharing the insights from the last eight months with you. You can learn more about the methods we used to develop the E Corp certification, entry scheme and app by heading to the About page.
We’ve analysed and split our findings and recommendations into three, digestible reports for you to view.
Cultural capital’s fallout in the industry: its detrimental effect on the confidence of working class adlanders and what this means
How cultural capital’s relationship with class impacts people with intersecting identities
A potential solution: how voice can break the hold of cultural capital
We've visualised the relationship between these elements in the diagram below.
Bourdieu and cultural capital
Throughout our reports we refer back to Pierre Bourdieu, a French sociologist, and his concept of cultural capital and habitus. We’ve found his theory the most useful in explaining the barriers faced by working class adlanders. To learn more about Bourdieu, his theory and how we’ve interpreted it, click the button below.
Continue scrolling to read the reports.
