A NUMBER of hard-hitting billboard advertisements have been placed around the Black Country with the aim of encouraging ethnic minority voters to vote.

The Operation Black Vote (OBV) posters, which were installed last week in High Street, Amblecote, and Cradley Road, Netherton, feature black celebrities ‘whiting up’.

OBV hope the posters will increase the number of black and minority ethnic individuals who vote in Thursday’s elections.

Celebrities who feature on the posters include Hollywood star David Harewood, pop icon Tinie Timpah, former footballer Sol Campbell and athlete and TV presenter, Ade Adepitan.

Simon Woolley, director of OBV, said: “It’s a sad fact that racism has increased in Britain.

“If things are to improve then it is absolutely critical that black and minority ethnic communities use this political leverage to vote and demand a plan to tackle race inequality.”

The OBV voter registration bus visited the West Midlands in April where more than 200 people registered to vote on the vehicle.

Mr Campbell, former England defender, said: “I agreed to do the Operation Black Vote poster campaign because I wanted to highlight the problem that some sections of Britain don’t understand the importance of voting for a better future.”