HOSIERY AND lingerie brand Nubian Skin has won a £500,000 TfL advertising campaign, City Hall announced today.

The brand’s “A Different Kind of Nude” will receive prominent advertising space on the TfL network after it was chosen as the winner of City Hall and TfL’s diversity in advertising competition.

Now in its second year, the competition is designed to tackle tokenism, combat stereotypes and make advertising in London more representative of the capital’s rich ethnic diversity.

Working with TfL’s media partners, Global and JCDecaux UK, the competition called on brands to create adverts that offered authentic portrayals of London’s black and minority ethnic communities.

“Advertising has a very one-dimensional view of what blackness means”

Ade Hassan, founder and CEO of Nubian Skin

Ade Hassan, founder and CEO of Nubian Skin, said: “It’s such an honour to have won this competition. As a small, London-based business it is incredible to know that we will be featured across the TFL system, which in itself carries every day a great representation of the diversity present in London.

“This campaign is particularly important to me because I feel advertising has a very one-dimensional view of what blackness means, and this allows us to give a broader snap shot of what being black means to different people.”

Nubian Skin’s winning campaign, which challenges assumptions surrounding the word “nude” in the fashion industry, was chosen due to its bold and inclusive imagery which embraced a range of ages and body types as well as skin tones.

The brand was also commended for the genuine practical needs its products were created to meet. For many women of colour, finding suitable skin tone hosiery and lingerie had not been an option, but Nubian Skin aims to redefine “nude” and encourages women and men of all ethnicities to feel included and appreciated.

London is one of the most diverse cities in the world, with 40 per cent of its population identifying as black, Asian or minority ethnic. However, while there has been improvement in the visibility of people from varying ethnic backgrounds in adverts, more than 60 per cent of adverts still feature only or majority white people.

“[Nubian Skin] have clearly shown how empowering adverts can be when diversity is not an afterthought”

Debbie Weekes-Bernard, deputy mayor for social integration, social mobility and community engagement

The diversity in advertising competition follows research carried out by Lloyds Banking Group, in 2018, that revealed 34 per cent of black people and 30 per cent of people from mixed ethnic backgrounds they felt they were inaccurately portrayed in advertising.

The £500,000 worth of prominent advertising space across the TfL network awarded to Nubian Skin includes space on the digital screens at Canary Wharf and across the JCDecaux UK digital bus shelter network.

Deputy Mayor for social integration, social mobility and community engagement, Debbie Weekes-Bernard said: “London’s greatest strength it its diversity but for too long, the advertising industry has been reluctant to represent the varying backgrounds and identities of its consumers in all their rich complexity.

“I am delighted to announce Nubian Skin as the winner of this year’s competition and hope their eye-catching campaign encourages other businesses to see the benefits of embracing our diversity in their adverts. They have clearly shown how empowering adverts can be when diversity is central to their development and not simply an afterthought.”

Community football programme Grassroots for Good was awarded the runner-up prize of up to £50,000 worth of digital advertising space for their campaign which celebrates the power of grassroots sport.