The PR and Communications industry needs to work much more on diversity and integration of more professionals from various ethnic and social backgrounds.
The Diversity Action Alliance (DAA), in its Race and Ethnicity in Public Relations and Communications Benchmark Annual Report (May 2025) said that the British and American sectors of the industry, “there is a pronounced lack of racial and ethnic diversity within the PR profession” adding that “in 2023, about 75% of the public relations workforce in the U.S. was of a singular ethnic group. Other groups are significantly underrepresented.. In 2021, another industry survey showed 87% of the public relations workforce in the UK were of a singular ethnic group.”
If the industry in general is such, what is the outlook at the leadership level?
“This lack of ethnic diversity becomes even more pronounced at the leadership level, where over 90% of top leaders of PR agencies are of a singular ethnic group.”
Importantly: “There is greater ethnic diversity among younger professionals and those in non-leadership roles than in the director group.”
Another Study of 1089 PR professionals (June 5 to July 16, 2025), titled “The State of PR 2025” by Muck Rack (a leading provider of AI-powered PR software) found 48% PR professionals saying their teams are “not very or not at all diverse”, while 7% are unsure. Leadership teams? Only 38% say the leadership teams are diverse.
Despite this gloomy outlook, there is good news, though just a little dash.
Diversity Action Alliance (DAA) says that “the industry is aware of its diversity issues and is taking steps to address them..”
Many firms have launched diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. These efforts often include targeted recruitment from diverse talent pools and partnerships with universities and multicultural PR organizations, mentorship programs to support underrepresented groups, cultural competency training for leaders to address unconscious biases, and transparency and measurement of progress through metrics like pay gap data and team demographics.
PR campaigns and messaging usually target an audience at large, using common channels of publicity, used by diverse population segments. A diverse PR and communications team, therefore, is a must. It is comical to expect frequent creation of campaigns spearheaded by a singular ethnic group to run successfully among such a diverse audience.
Time to put on the industry’s thinking caps…!
