Targeted Marketing of Junk Food to Ethnic Minority Youth

Ethnic minority youth are hardest hit by the obesity epidemic. Although the marketing of junk food to youth is the subject of much research and exploration, less emphasis is given to marketing that specifically targets ethnic minority youth.

This chapter from Advances in Communication Research to Reduce Childhoood Obesity* summarizes data on the targeted marketing of junk food to ethnic minority youth and the reasons such advertising may have a particularly potent effect on this group.

It also examines whether federal or state laws provide a basis for challenging this type of marketing, and it looks at the importance and efficacy of using community engagement to address the problem.

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*Williams, Jerome D., Keryn E. Pasch, and Chiquita A. Collins, eds. Advances in communication research to reduce childhood obesity. Springer Science & Business Media, 2013.