Racist Royals? Bigoted Brands?

So once again, a Royal is up on the front pages of daily rags nationwide for making a seemingly inappropriate remark to a chum of ethnic origin. No, for once it’s not Prince Philip, but his third-in-line-to-the-throne grandson, King of the lads’ mags and loveable rapscallion, Prince Harry.

Whilst I don’t wish to plough precious time and energy into discussing whether the alleged ‘term of affection’ is appropriate or not (although this all smacks of ‘breeze in a thimble’ as opposed to storm in a teacup), bigger issues are once again brought firmly into the centre of public debate, including those in the recruitment sector.

A recent undercover investigation carried out by BBC One’s ‘Inside Out West’ programme discovered that out of 30 recruitment agencies contacted, 25 readily agreed to only send white applicants along for a fictional job as a receptionist. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7826077.stm)

This is quite frankly, a startling revelation and a wake-up call to all those in the recruitment industry. How far is the average recruiter prepared to go to fill a brief? Does the buck stop with the bigoted brands issuing these sorts of requests, or are recruiters continuing this prejudiced chain when complying to these sorts of unethical (not to mention illegal) requests?