Food companies disproportionately target black and Hispanic consumers for their TV advertising for fast food, candy, sugary drink and snack brands, according to new research.
In contrast, said a report released by the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at the University of Connecticut, the African American Collaborative Obesity Research Network (AACORN) and Salud America!, these companies were significantly less likely to pitch healthier food categories such as dairy products, juice, water, fruits and vegetables in TV ads targeting black and Hispanic consumers.”Our analysis of the largest food, beverage and restaurant corporations in the United States shows that these companies vary widely in their focus on advertising targeted to black and Hispanic youth. Unfortunately, the majority of brands targeted to youth of color are nutritionally poor products that can be harmful to their health,” said Jennifer Harris, PhD, the report’s lead author and the Rudd Center’s director of marketing initiatives in a press release issued by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Rates of obesity and related diseases are higher among black and Hispanic populations, compared with whites, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Public health experts have raised concerns that food companies may be targeting directly to black and Hispanic youth with TV advertising for nutritionally poor foods, exacerbating health disparities.
The report, “Food advertising targeted to Hispanic and Black youth: Contributing to health disparities,” examines advertising by 26 major restaurant, food and beverage companies in 2013. The criteria for inclusion in the analysis are all companies with at least $100 million in advertising spending during 2013, as well as companies participating in the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, a voluntary, self-regulatory program, as of December 2014.
Researchers analyzed food and beverage advertising on Spanish-language and black-targeted TV programming; TV advertising disproportionately viewed by black youth, compared with white youth; youths’ exposure to this advertising, and the product categories and brands promoted most often. They looked at the volume of advertising and the expenditures. Researchers also examined the 267 most advertised brands from the 26 companies.
“This report highlights important disparities in the food and beverage industry’s heavy marketing of unhealthy foods to Hispanic and black youth, and the corresponding lack of promotion of healthier options,” said Amelie G. Ramirez, director of Salud America!, based at the Institute for Health Promotion Research at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. “Given the role food marketing plays in influencing the diets of youth of color, there is increasing demand for heightened industry self-regulation and community-based action.”
