Nine has been called out for the lack of diversity in its new show Love Island, following the release of the program's first promo.
Social activist Yassmin Abdel-Magied criticised the program for featuring an all-white cast.
"The advert kinda demonstrates why I grew up in Australia never thinking a person with a darker shade of skin or different features (like myself) was even remotely attractive," she wrote.
Others agreed with Abdel-Magied, with one Twitter user saying there are "disgusted by the lack of representation in the entertainment industry" and another calling the show "Caucasian Island".
https://twitter.com/yassmin_a/status/998506535461490688The issue of white-washing in casting Australian reality TV programs was addressed last year when Ten revealed the cast for The Bachelor, with 22 Caucasian women cast in the show.
Shortly after, Nine Network's head of content production and development Adrian Swift admitted TV networks have failed to represent a true Australia but said the network was "addressing it slowly".
A Nine spokesperson told AdNews: “We cast a wide net to find contestants and with applications open throughout the series for new Islanders, we encourage all Australians from any background to apply for Love Island Australia."
AdNews understands the casting for Love Island is not complete and Nine is still encouraging people to enter.
White-washing is not only a problem on The Bachelor and Love Island, but has also been reflected in the casting of The Block and Married at First Sight.
However, Nine's new food format, Family Food Fight, boasted a culturally diverse cast. TV networks, aside from multicultural broadcaster SBS, have struggled to reflect Australia's multicultural society in their TV programming.
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