Ethnic Representation Analysis of Commercial Movie Posters

Abstract: In the last decades, global awareness towards the importance of diverse representation has been increasing. Lack of diversity and discrimination toward minorities did not skip the film industry. Here, we examine ethnic bias in the film industry through commercial posters, the industry's primary advertisement medium for decades. Movie posters are designed to establish the viewer's initial impression. We developed a novel approach for evaluating ethnic bias in the film industry by analyzing nearly 125,000 posters using state-of-the-art deep learning models. Our analysis shows that while ethnic biases still exist, there is a trend of reduction of bias, as seen by several parameters. Particularly in English-speaking movies, the ethnic distribution of characters on posters from the last couple of years is reaching numbers that are approaching the actual ethnic composition of US population. An automatic approach to monitor ethnic diversity in the film industry, potentially integrated with financial value, may be of significant use for producers and policymakers.