Super Bowl ads less gender offensive, says diversity study

A diversity study revealed that while Super Bowl XLIX commercials were more sensitive and less gender offensive than in past years, women and people of color remain vastly underrepresented among the creative directors producing those advertisements.

The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida released a study Wednesday showing the advertising industry's continuing disparity in hiring practices in terms of race and gender.

The study found of the 42 Super Bowl ads in 2015 for which data was available, only three -- or seven percent -- featured exclusively a person of color as the lead creative director.

By contrast, 86 percent featured exclusively a white creative director and seven percent featured both a white person and a person of color as creative directors.

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