Posts Tagged: advertising
Black, Hispanic kids targeted by ads for soda and high-calorie drinks
Black and Hispanic kids are disproportionately targeted by ads for sugary sodas, snacks and calorie-laden restaurant foods, researchers reported on August 11.
They say their report confirms what public health experts have suspected for years — that advertisers of junk foods find a lucrative audience among minorities.
And the researchers who wrote the report say it helps explain why black and Hispanic kids are more likely to be obese than their white peers.
The report finds that African-American children and teens see 70 percent more food-related TV advertising than white kids do. They also see twice as many TV ads for candy, sugary drinks, and snacks, according to the team at the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at the University of Connecticut, the African-American Collaborative Obesity Research Network and the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
Study after study shows that Americans — and people in most other countries, too — are getting fatter.
The latest study shows 28 percent of Americans are clinically obese, and that nearly 30 percent of U.S. children and teens are either obese or overweight, up from 19 percent in 1980.
And blacks and Hispanics are far more likely than whites or Asians to be overweight.
While it's hard to demonstrate that advertising directly causes people to eat too much unhealthy food, the way companies advertise certainly reflects and reinforces preferences, the research team said.
"Previous research has shown that black and Hispanic youth receive a 'double dose' of food marketing that promotes products high in sugar, saturated fat, and sodium," they wrote.
"Compared to white non-Hispanic youth, they are exposed to more food advertising in the media, as well as more marketing messages in their communities."
The team did an in-depth analysis, looking at 26 restaurant, food, and beverage companies, including all companies with $100 million or more in advertising spending in 2013. They also examined the companies taking part in the voluntary Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative industry self-regulatory program.
"Systematic searches of marketing trade press and reports, companies' annual reports, and press releases from 2012 to 2014 identified statements about their targeted marketing practices," the report reads.
"To identify brands with TV advertising targeted to black and Hispanic audiences, we utilized syndicated market research data from Nielsen."
They found three brands advertised heavily on Spanish-language television and not at all on English-language broadcasts: 7 Up, Kraft Mayonnaise, and Fuze Iced Tea.
"Black children and teens saw at least twice as many ads for gum/mints, soda, and other sugary drinks compared with white children and teens, and black children saw 2.1 times as many candy and regular soda ads and 2.3 times as many gum/mint ads," the report says.
They're careful not to blame companies doing what they need to do to stay afloat — advertise and try to sell products.
"In evaluating companies' targeted marketing practices, it is important to recognize that food and beverage marketing designed to appeal directly to Hispanic and black consumers is not problematic in and of itself," the researchers write.
"Hispanic consumers spend more than an estimated $1 trillion per year, and they represent one of the largest and fastest growing demographic groups in the United States. Hispanic households also tend to be larger and younger than other households, making them an especially attractive market for consumer goods, including food."
It does make good business sense, the researchers noted.
"However, this research demonstrates that racial-ethnic targeted food marketing likely contributes to health disparities," they added.
None of the companies contacted by NBC News responded. Nor did the American Beverage Association, which represents soft drink makers.
"This research confirms public health concerns about food and beverage marketing targeted to black and Hispanic consumers, especially children and adolescents," the researchers concluded.
"Due to their greater exposure to media and food marketing, proposals to reduce unhealthy food marketing to youth and/or increase marketing of nutritious foods would also greatly benefit black and Hispanic youth. In addition, industry pledges to increase marketing of healthy products must include expansion of advertising in black- and Hispanic-targeted media, where healthier categories are currently significantly underrepresented."
"In 2014, on average, children ages 2 to 11 viewed 12.8 food and beverage ads per day on TV alone - almost 4,700 ads per year - and adolescents ages 12 to 17 viewed 15.2 ads per day," they wrote.
Source: Published originally on ABCNews.com as Black, Hispanic kids targeted by ads for soda and high-calorie drinks, August 11, 2015.
Hispanic Americans are foreshadowing the future of media in the U.S.
Hispanic Americans are foreshadowing the future of media in the U.S., and for advertisers and marketers seeking to tap into the increasing spending power and cultural impact of this growing audience segment, digital media is the key. Hispanic Americans spend more time online and are more receptive to advertisements in general than non-Hispanic Americans.
Research findings from Specific Media and SMG Multicultural include:
- Hispanic Americans spend more time shopping online in general. Hispanic Americans spent 83 percent more time on the Internet than non-Hispanic Americans, and they also spend nearly four times as long shopping online via websites or apps.
- Hispanic Americans are leading the adoption of smartphones and tablets as media devices. Hispanic Americans spend a greater amount of time engaged in online activities on their smartphones (26 percent compared to 20 percent of non-Hispanics) and tablets (16 percent compared to 13 percent of non-Hispanics), while non-Hispanic Americans spend a greater amount of time engaged in online activities on their desktops (67 percent compared to 59 percent of Hispanics). Hispanics are also more likely to perform purchase-related activities on their mobile devices.
- Hispanic Americans are more favorably pre-disposed to advertising in general. Across all three digital platforms – desktop, smartphones and tablets – Hispanics are far more likely to find ads useful, relevant, influential and informative. This discrepancy is greatest in the smartphone category, with Hispanic audiences reporting they find ads useful and relevant at more than double the rate of non-Hispanics (36 percent compared to 17 percent of non-Hispanics).
- Hispanic Americans multimedia-task while watching TV and engage more across platforms with programming and ads. Findings show that Hispanic audiences are not only more likely to engage in other digital activity while watching TV, but they are also twice as likely to engage with a brand based upon TV ad characteristics.
- Facebook is the most popular online site across the board for Hispanic and non-Hispanic audiences. Amazon gains the highest amount of unique visitors by English-preferred Hispanics, and YouTube has the highest amount of unique visitors by Spanish-preferred Hispanics. Bing is the favored search engine choice for Hispanics; however non-Hispanics prefer to use Google.
Source: Published originally on HispanicAd.com as Hispanic Americans are foreshadowing the future of media in the U.S., March 12, 2015.
Ethnic groups don’t see themselves in advertising, digital content
According to a report by eMarketer.com, brands that want to reach ethnic minorities online are not doing a very good job. An April 2011 survey by Yahoo!, Mindshare and Added Value found that according to Hispanics, blacks and Asian-Americans, digital advertising does not engage them. When asked for three brands doing a good job reaching them, most said they couldn’t name even one.
One big reason was that respondents felt their ethnic groups were poorly represented in messaging. Some 78% of blacks, 74% of Hispanics and 72% of Asians surveyed agreed that diversity in ads is the best reflection of the real world. And nearly as many in each group said ads should show more of that diversity.
One way to be authentic is to reflect consumers’ core values and interests. The study found particular cultural “drivers” important to ethnic groups. For about half of blacks surveyed, music and beauty were significant. For Hispanics, a big driver was food and recipes, and for Asian-Americans, restaurants that reflect their tastes were key.
Hispanic respondents, for example, pointed out that an ad with a Hispanic family sitting down and enjoying a meal together shows that the brand knows what is important to that group.
Why have marketers been slow to understand the importance of ethnic authenticity? The researchers said that brands do understand the importance of multicultural advertising, but one of the fears is that if you make a misstep in this area, the backlash is really negative.
Source: eMarketer.com, Ethnic Groups Don’t See Themselves in Advertising, Digital Content, December 22, 2011.