Black and Hispanic kids are advertising targets for marketing sugary drinks, snacks, candy and unhealthy fast food, a study finds. Black and Hispanic kids are exposed to twice as much TV ads for soda, sugary drinks, candy and gum compared to white kids, according to a collaborative report made by the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at the University of Connecticut, the African American Collaborative Obesity Research Network and Salud America!.
The report was published online by the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity and was presented at the National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing, and Media held in Atlanta, Ga. from Aug. 11 to 13.
The researchers looked at ads from 26 major restaurant, food and beverage companies and analyzed their 267 most advertised brands. The list of companies includes those that invested at least $100 in their advertising campaigns. The researchers gathered the companies' targeted marketing practices from annual reports, marketing trade releases and press reports from 2012 to 2014.
The research team also used market data from Nielsen to determine which brands utilized TV advertising to target black and Hispanic audiences and discovered three brands that had heavy advertising in Spanish language without the same extent of advertising in the English language: Kraft Mayonnaise, 7Up and Fuze Iced Tea.
Based on the study results, black kids saw 70 percent more food-related ads on TV compared with white kids. The researchers identified 48 brands as "disproportionately targeting their TV advertising to children and teens compared with adults," with greater likelihood to target black and Hispanic youth.
Among those who spent the most in Spanish-language ads for youth-targeted brands are McDonald's, Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal, Twix Candy Bar and Orbit gum. Fast food companies had the highest spending in targeted ads, with advertising costs of up to $224 million for Hispanic audiences and $61 million for black audiences.
"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," lead author Jennifer Harris, associate professor-in-residence at the University of Connecticut and director of marketing initiatives at the Rudd Center, said in a press release. "Unfortunately, the majority of brands targeted to youth of color are nutritionally poor products that can be harmful to their health."
The report said companies choosing to target black and Hispanic kids in their advertising are doing so for a reason, as Hispanic consumers spend more than $1 trillion annually. The Hispanic community also represented one of the largest demographic groups in the U.S., with Hispanic households being younger and larger compared to others.
"This is a clear case of tactics that must be profitable from the business perspective but at the cost of fostering an environment that promotes poor health in black and Hispanic youth in particular," Shiriki Kumanyika, Chair of the African American Collaborative Obesity Research Network, said in the press release.
Amelie G. Ramirez, director of Salud America!, said the report shows "important disparities in the food and beverage industry's heavy marketing of unhealthy foods to Hispanic and black youth," noting the lack of promotion for healthy foods.
Salud America! is conducting a campaign for companies to join the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, a "voluntary self-regulating program for food and drink companies to create healthier advertising to kids under age 12."
"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," Ramirez said.
