Unstereotype Alliance and Kantar launch new ad metric

The metric, called Progressive Unstereotype Metric (PUM), evaluates all characters in an advert and determines how progressive representations are.

The Unstereotype Alliance said PUM was developed with a focus on measuring representations of age, race and ethnicity, and disability, and should be implemented in addition to the existing Gender Unstereotype Metric (GUM), which was released in 2019 and which focuses on gender stereotypes.

PUM, which is immediately available, has data available in more than 50 countries, and members of the Unstereotype Alliance monitor and track the content they produce via both metrics and using the organisation’s ‘three Ps’ framework of presence, personality and perspective.

The GUM has been implemented by 23 organisations, and the new PUM has already been adopted by 12 member organisations, as well as consumer testing in Brazil, India, Turkey, the UK and the US.

Research by Kantar found that globally, 1% of adverts feature a person living with a disability, 33% feature people with different skin colours and ethnicities, while 33% of men and 21% of women in adverts are over the age of 40.

The findings were based on an assessment of the existing GUM database comprising 16,000 advertisements from 61 countries, 2,900 brands and 246 categories.

Sara Denby, head of the Unstereotype Alliance Secretariat at UN Women, said: “It has always been critical to authentically represent the full and rich diversity of our communities in advertising.

“The new Progressive Unstereotype Metric will help us transform deeply ingrained social norms, and to measure that transformation on a per-market basis, which is so desperately needed.”

Sarah Morrell, senior creative lead at Kantar, added: “In recognition of the representation gaps that continue to exist, it’s important that the alliance takes a leadership position in this debate, so we’ve leaned into the challenge with our expertise, influence and scale.”