Food ads targeting black and Hispanic youth almost exclusively promote unhealthy products

[Judi Lynn]

January 15, 2019

Hartford, Conn. - Restaurant, food, and beverage companies (food companies) target Hispanic and Black children and teens with ads almost exclusively for fast food, candy, sugary drinks, and unhealthy snacks, according to a new report from the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at the University of Connecticut, the Council on Black Health at Drexel University, and Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio.

The new report finds that fast food, candy, sugary drinks, and unhealthy snacks represented 86 percent of food ad spending on Black-targeted TV programming, where Black consumers comprise the majority of viewers, and 82 percent of ad spending on Spanish-language TV, in 2017. According to researchers, food companies spent almost $11 billion in total TV advertising in 2017, including $1.1 billion on advertising in Black-targeted and Spanish-language TV programming.

"Food companies have introduced healthier products and established corporate responsibility programs to support health and wellness among their customers, but this study shows that they continue to spend 8 of 10 TV advertising dollars on fast food, candy, sugary drinks, and unhealthy snacks, with even more advertising for these products targeted to Black and Hispanic youth," said Jennifer Harris, PhD, the report's lead author and the Rudd Center's director of Marketing Initiatives.

Researchers also found that food companies increased their Black-targeted TV ad spending by more than 50 percent from 2013 to 2017, even though their total advertising spending on all TV programming declined by 4 percent. Black teens saw more than twice as many ads for unhealthy products compared to White teens in 2017.

More:
https://www.brightsurf.com/news/article/011519473903/food-ads-targeting-black-and-hispanic-youth-almost-exclusively-promote-unhealthy-products.html

[elleng]

1. A 'new report' had to tell us that???

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. Recently I've been wondering if

the upsurge in food allergies might be related to such things as unhealthy foods of many kinds.

I was visiting my sister over the holidays, and was really bothered by her grandchildren drinking soft drinks. I want to point out that overall they were eating reasonably well, but I have long thought about this. Here's a semi-trivial thing: spray nonstick stuff on cooking utensils. It seems unimportant, but I'm not aware of any study of any kind that looks at that. Me, I don't use those sprays. If I need to coat a cooking utensil I use Crisco either as the solid shortening or the oil. Which may not be any better than the nonstick spray. Maybe. But I honestly wonder about all of the many artificial ingredients that young children are subject to.

The research that would need to be done is tricky, and would take decades, if it could even tease out the factors I'm thinking about. Such effects are subtle, and probably not very easily proved.