JUNK FOOD ADS TARGET BLACK KIDS 50 PERCENT MORE THAN WHITES – STUDY

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African-American and Latino children are more likely to be exposed to junk food ads than their white counterparts, a new study finds. New calls are being made for advertisers and networks to “do more” to prevent bad dining choices.
In the US alone, companies spend around $1.8 billion marketing junk food directly to kids and roughly nine out of every 10 youth-targeted food ads are for sugary drinks, cereals, sweets, snacks and fast food, according to the Obesity Action Coalition, a nonprofit advocacy group.




Researchers at the University of Connecticut’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity conducted a study that found African-Americans are subjected to 50 percent more of these junk food related ads and are more than twice as likely to see an ad for junk food than their white peers.

The study analyzed Nielsen data from 2008 to 2012, comparing the rate at which junk food and fast food ads were being viewed by children in different racial categories.

Many critics are using this study as proof that junk food companies have been purposefully directing their marketing at young African-Americans rather than whites. Jennifer Harris, a lead researcher in the study, concluded that “black and Latino kids have higher rates of obesity and other diet-related diseases.”