Swedish researchers and media monitoring organisations have drawn attention to the "lack of diversity and the use of discriminatory imagery" in Swedish advertising.

A joint project by several universities showed that white people predominate in Swedish advertisements of tourist destinations, which researchers say does not reflect the real composition of society and hinders inclusion, the Swedish Samnytt news portal wrote.

The study pointed out that certain groups, such as immigrants from the Middle East, are almost never portrayed in advertising, despite the fact that they make up a significant part of Sweden’s population.

As an example, the study cites Malmo’s Mollevangstorget, a multicultural neighbourhood, where advertisements feature almost exclusively white people and a negligible portion of immigrants from the Middle Eastern. Sayaka Osanami Torngren, associate professor at Malmo University, emphasized that

advertisements should reflect real social diversity.

The research also found that education-related adverts often depict Asian individuals,

while ads targeting foreign tourists typically feature white, nuclear families.

Inequality in the media was also highlighted. Research by the organisation called Mediekompaniet has shown that Swedish media are dominated by middle-aged white men. The organisation says this is not only unfair but also detrimental to democratic dialogue and wider media outreach.

A cosmetics company, Kicks, for example, came under fire after it showed a woman’s skin in ‘before-and-after’ pictures. The image taken ‘after’ showed a lighter skin tone, and the text emphasized that the woman’s skin has never been so beautiful. The ombudsman in charge of advertising ruled that the ad was discriminatory because it suggested that lighter skin was more desirable.

Kicks defended itself by saying that the images were taken at different times and under different circumstances and were never intended to present lighter skin tone as an ideal. Nevertheless, the Reklamombudsmannen upheld the ruling. Since then, the company has introduced new photo editing guidelines that aim to avoid retouched content.