Fast-food companies target Blacks and Latinos with ads
The unhealthiest food and drink is overwhelmingly on the menu for black and Hispanic youth – at least that’s how food marketers seem to want it.
Food companies take aim at black and Hispanic youths with “ads almost exclusively for fast food, candy, sugary drinks, and unhealthy snacks,” said a report released Tuesday by researchers at three U.S. universities.
The unhealthiest food and drink is overwhelmingly on the menu for black and Hispanic youth – at least that’s how food marketers seem to want it.
Food companies take aim at black and Hispanic youths with “ads almost exclusively for fast food, candy, sugary drinks, and unhealthy snacks,” said a report released Tuesday by researchers at three U.S. universities.
In 2017 a whopping 86% of the advertising dollars spent on food ads went toward promoting fast food, candy, sugary drinks, and unhealthy snacks on black-targeted TV programming, said the study done by 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. Such ads took up 82% of the spending on Spanish-language television, the study said.
“Unhealthy food marketing aimed at youth is a contributor to poor diets and related diseases, like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease,” Salud America! said in a statement. “Targeting Latino and Black youth with unhealthy marketing contributes to disparities in health.”
