Unhealthy Food Ads Aiming at Latinos & African Americans

Junk food companies, like McDonald's and Coca-Cola, are specifically targeting Latino and African American youth with ther television ads, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Conneticut.

The results of the study suggest that junk food companies may be contributing to the growing obesity rate and rising number of diet-related diseases among Black and Latino children, reports the Los Angeles Times. 

The main concern with the rising obesity rate is that obese children eventually grow-up to be obese adults. The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention government agency reports that 47.8 percent of African American and 42.5 percent of Latinos are obese among the adult population in the United States, compared to 32.6 percent of obese whites.

Jenniefer Harris, lead researcher of the study from the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity, concludes:

"If the [food] companies are purchasing more advertising in [ethnically] targeted media, then they would actually be contributing to the health disparities in these communities with their marketing practices."

For the study, the Connecticut researchers reviewed 26 restaurants, food, and beverage companies who spent over $100 million on TV ads in 2013, reports the Christian Science Monitor. In addition, they also analyzed data from 267 most-advertised brands, which included General Mills, Kraft Foods, and Hershey's.

In general, most of the junk food companies were more open about their efforts in targeting the Spanish-speaking populations than speaking about their ad campaigns aimed at Black consumers.

According to the authors of the study, Hispanic consumers are becoming increasingly imporant to these food companies. Large packaged-food companies in particular, created websites in Spanish in order to attract Latinos. On the other hand, McDonald's doubled their efforts and created separate sites for Black, Hispanics, and Asian American consumers.

The researchers also discovered that several companies, including Snapple Group, Post Foods and Wendy's, spent 10 percent of their advertising budget on Spanish TV programs.

There were some companies that did no even bother to advertise in English-language television programs, suggesting that all their advertising budget was aimed at the Latino community. These companies included 7Up, Kraft Mayonnaise, and Fuze Ice Tea.

Meanwhile, only Coca-Cola, General Mills, and McDonald's candidly shared their advertising strategies aimed at African American consumers. CS Monitor states that over half of the companies revealed that they spent more than $100,000 on ads for TV networks that highly appealed to black viewers.

At the end of the research, the authors of the study suggest that junk food companies should stop adverstising on television networks meant for children below 14 years old.