The 2001 Census showed that the Asian ethnic group represents 3.8% of the UK population, some 2.3 million people out of a UK population of 59 million. Overall, the UK's ethnic population now stands at 9.9% and has risen from 6% in the last decade partly as a result of the recognition and inclusion of mixed ethnic groups and Irish categories in 2001. So statistics clearly show that the number of Asians in the UK is not as high as estimated by market researchers and that their numbers are not increasing significantly either.

The collective disposable income of Asians, however, is estimated to be about £14 billion a year and growing. The annual Asian Rich List shows that over £5 billion of wealth is generated by Asian-owned businesses within London and the Thames Gateway each year. Within London the largest ethnic minority populations are in Brent, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Ealing, Haringey, Westminster, Lambeth and Harrow. So not only are Asians considered relatively wealthy, but they also live in easy-to-target geographic clusters. It seems wasteful therefore to use a national medium like television to target a finite population better reached using other media like direct mail, door-to-door and local press. Perhaps the real reason for the use of television lies in the advertiser's need to embrace cultural diversity.

ADVERTISERS MAJOR ON MINORITIES

In the recently published report 'Reaching the Ethnic Consumer: A Challenge for Marketers' David Fletcher, Head of MediaLab (Mediaedge:cia UK) states that "brands looking to reach cultural early adopters should be sensitised to minority ethnic culture in order to identify new trends at the outset". This suggestion is based on the observation that "mainstream culture is increasingly adopting some aspects - notably in food, arts/media and spirituality - from minority cultures."

As the old adage goes "you cannot please all of the people all of the time". The fact is, for whatever reason, much of current advertising targeted at ethnic audiences fails all of the time. A recent IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) report stated that 96% of all those working in the advertising industry are white. So can these very same people aspire to create truly absorbing adverts for multi-racial Britain?

And aspirations are really what advertising is all about. One common tactic has been to feature Asians and Black actors in TV and press adverts. "Use of minority ethnic actors in settings draws strong, resonant attention to the creative execution, but tends to polarise the community between those who see the individual representation as positive and those at that see it as tokenistic or stereotypical", David Fletcher notes in his research.

DO BROWN FACES SELL BETTER?

So does the fact that you see an Asian in an advert make you want to buy the product? Well this depends.

The first factor of influence is whether use of the "brown" face is gratuitous or essential to the advert. The Spec Savers "Open up your eyes" 2001 campaign featured a sari-clad Asian woman. Perhaps it could be considered gratuitous, but as they also feature young, old, black, white, male and female, viewers are probably forgiving in this instance.

A more positive example where an Asian is the central figure in the advert is from Self Trade. They may have identified that the majority of their share-dealing customers are Asian, and hence, the use of the Asian man. Alternatively, it may be playing on the "canny Asian dealer" theme, hence the haggling school and "Self-Trade gives you a better deal immediately" concept. Whichever concept applies, the adverts work largely because they compliment a feature of Asian people.

This raises a key issue about whether Asian identity is now familiar enough to be used as an acceptable face of multicultural Britain. While Specsavers have given it no more than a passing nod and Self-Trade put an Asian at the heart of their message, these commercials have used ethnic imagery but avoided using extensive dialogue. Fast food retailer McDonald's, on the other hand, directly addressed this issue in their 2001 adverts launching their Indian food range. The adverts show Asians in different parts of Britain - Merseyside, Tyneside and London - singing well known tunes in local English accents.

MIND YOUR LANGUAGE.

McDonald's messages are extremely confusing despite being witty. Firstly, they fell into the classic restaurant trade trap, i.e. "if the locals (Asians in this case) eat here, then it must be OK" scenario. The problem is that with nearly 8000 curry houses in the UK, added to the fact that nearly 2.5 million people eat curry once a week, it is hard to swallow the precept that McDonalds products (however good they might be) are authentic. So using Asian people in their advertising remains unconvincing. One wonders whom the adverts are aimed at: Asians who do not eat at McDonalds or non-Asians who do not eat curry?

To compound the mistake further, the Asians are singing well-known British songs like "Ferry Across the Mersey" and "Maybe its because I'm a Londoner" in local accents. What is this meant to imply exactly? That Asians have now become Liverpudlians, Londoners and Tynesiders? Or maybe they are aspiring to become such: a fact that is galling for those born in this country, or for those who have lived here nearly all of their lives. Why was this route taken? Is it because the regional accent plays a very important role? Does it say "I was born here, I'm primarily a Brummie and secondly an Asian"? If so, does this make the commercial less threatening to a non-Asian audience and more palatable to an Asian audience?

STEREOTYPES

The danger of using British/Asian stereotypes is that Asians may not identify with these characters and for non-Asians the advertising just reinforces ill-conceived notions of Asian stereotypes or worse, reinforces that message that this is a product not designed for them. In the case of McDonalds, the adverts could be interpreted as a range for Asians only. If Asians are the target market for McDonalds, then cooking with halal meat, avoiding all pork additives and frying chips and desserts in separate vegetarian cooking oil, would be more effective surely? If non-Asians are the target market then most of them probably know where the nearest curry house is located.

Interestingly, McDonalds have an alternate execution of their 2001 adverts featuring an eccentric Englishman highlighting the important aspects of Indian culture that the British have absorbed from the "the Raj" - from polo, jodhpurs, and pyjamas to chintz. This advert ridicules the English, perhaps alienating Asians and non-Asians alike!

COOL BRITANNIA

What exactly are McDonalds and Specsavers trying to achieve with their advertising? Are Asian characters being used a mechanism to say "everyone welcome/we embrace cultural diversity/we are in touch with ethnic Britain"? The fact remains that both advertisers are using Asian faces to advertise to a predominantly non-Asian audience and hoping to pull off the double coup of being able to show that they are 'in touch' without alienating non-Asians.

The concept of using a British/Asian hybrid character is not new however. In 1996 Homepride ran a series of three adverts for their "authentic" Indian Curry sauces. Homepride featured Glaswegian Asian 'Dhilip' cooking with a canned sauce for a "curry & bevvy"; Bindu & Riz enjoying a "cracking ruby" in their Asian cockney accents and Poonam & Naresh eating low fat curry "at their aunties". But trying to combine the two features - Eastern origins with modern-day British outlook- resulted in hilarious caricatures.

Of course, not all caricatures are real. Tommy Singh of Typhoo Tea is a fictitious plantation owner and Joshi of Joshi's Kitchen is an animated playboy restaurateur. Asians are indeed a jovial race and can readily laugh at themselves as demonstrated by the success of the comedy hit television show 'Goodness Gracious Me'. But humour is probably the most difficult thing to achieve in advertising, so trying to do so in a manner that appeals to a broad cross-section of multicultural Britain is almost impossible.

ADVERTISING AS AN ENTERTAINMENT MEDIUM

The second factor on the influence of advertising is whether adverts can engage you sufficiently to deliver the message. The Automobile Association advert launched in September 2000 is very much in "no mans land". The bickering couple arguing over who should renew the car insurance could be Asian. They could be of mixed race, European or any nationality for that matter. Perhaps this was just the desired effect?

The problem with this advert is that they employed Archie Panjabi, an actress famed for her roles in films 'East is East' and 'Bend it Like Beckham'. Her presence combined with the notion of "not doing everything your dad tells you to" places the advert very much in the Asian psychological arena. The advert has discarded the old Asian stereotype, but has it created a new stereotype? Are viewers, who are not able to relate to either of the two bickering characters, in danger of being disengaged from the message? This advert is a good example of one that can polarise the intended audience - a case of "we're like that" for those who identify with the characters or "we're not all like that" for those who reject the stereotype.

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