Creative advertising specialists Buildhollywood and Getty images are highlighting the harmful effect of “adultification” on young Black girls in Britain in a new campaign.
The out-of-home spot for Let Black Girls Be Girls, designed by creatives Eboni Lamine and Martha Omasoro, highlights language, prejudice and behaviours of teachers, family and general society from the perspective of young Black girls.
Running until 8 September on billboards in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol, the campaign juxtaposes the innocence of young Black girls with the adultification bias they face.
The joyful photography by Aicha Thomas and Jade Reynolds-Hemmings is contrasted with text which reads: “They always assume the worst of us like we aren’t kids too. Let Black girls be girls. Let kids be kids.”
In addition to the billboards, Lamine and Omasoro will work with Getty images and the BBC to support Black creatives to produce new visuals which will authentically capture and represent Black British girls.
An updated collection offering a broader selection of images will provide agencies with a wider and more positive selection of images with which to depict young Black girls.
It comes as a study conducted by Georgetown University revealed that adults believed Black girls between the ages of five and 16 to be less in need of nurturing, support and protection, and that they knew more about sex and adult topics.
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Further research revealed that adultification bias appeared to happen most frequently at school and at home in language from teachers and family members.
“The adultification of young Black girls remains such a deeply rooted social problem with damaging consequences. Being the first campaign of its kind, we felt it was totally necessary to get behind,” said Buildhollywood marketing director Khaly Nguyen.
“We hope that using our billboard spaces across the UK will build awareness for this important campaign to inspire positive change,” she continued.
Getty Images senior director of creative Jacqueline Bourke added: “Findings from our proprietary data and consumer research platform VisualGPS reveals that Black girls feature in only 0.26% of visuals most downloaded by our UK customers – brands, agencies and publishers – and are four times less likely to be represented than white girls.”
“The visuals we see around us, every day, through advertising and the media shape the way we see ourselves and others, and this presents an opportunity to drive more positive and nuanced representations of Black girls in Britain.”