Advertisers have today been accused of 'tokenism' by 'shoehorning ethnic minorities' into TV commercials.

Channel 4 claims brands are 'over representing' the black and minority ethnic (BAME) community by including 'one black friend within a group of white people.'

A study of 1,000 adverts shown in the UK over two months found 37 per cent featured black people, though they make up about 3 per cent of the British population.

The study undertaken by YouGov for Channel 4's sales arm found that advertisers 'shoehorn' in ethnic minorities in a bid to appeal to as many consumers as possible.

Channel 4 claims brands are 'over representing' the black and minority ethnic (BAME) community by including 'one black friend within a group of white people' on TV adverts. Pictured, a Ladbrokes advert

Researchers wrote: 'Many minorities criticise brands for 'trying too hard' to show diversity through shallow representation of different groups.

'Across groups, many criticise how Bame characters are still shown as the 'one black friend' within a group of white people.'

Channel 4 has also called for better representation of the LGBT community in TV advertising.

The broadcaster has claimed that LGBT people are rarely portrayed - and when they are it is often in stereotyped ways.

The same study also found just 3 per cent of surveyed adverts feature members of the LGBT community, which makes up around 6 per cent of the UK population.

It was also found that viewers overestimate representation at around 22 per cent.

Matt Salmon, Channel 4's head of agency and client sales, said: 'Our study, and the focus groups we conducted alongside it, showed that despite the lip service paid to diversity, there's still a long way to go before we have authentic representation in television ads.

'Channel 4 is determined to drive change in this area and we particularly want to challenge advertisers to up their game in the representation of people from the LGBT+ community.'

Channel 4's Diversity In Advertising Award gives support to a winning creative idea which tackles an issue of diversity in advertising, this year with the focus on the LGBT community.