Targeted Research for Well-Being: Dissecting the Effects of Marketing on Youth of Color

Marketing and public policy discussions about targeted marketing to youth have emphasized how marketing influences youth consumption of potentially hazardous products, including alcohol, tobacco, unhealthy food, and violent entertainment. What is missing, however, is a focused examination of how the effects are different or magnified among Black and Hispanic youth, fast-growing U.S. populations. Consider the April 1999 shooting at Columbine High School, which reawakened concern about youth exposure to violent media. In response, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigated the targeting of restricted movies, music, and video games to American youth. The study concluded that pervasive and aggressive marketingundermined thecredibilityof the ratingsand thushindered parents from making informed decisions about children’s exposure to violent content (Grier 2001). The FTC recommended that all industries enhance their self-regulatory efforts and support consumer education. Because the FTC study focused on “all youth,” there was no effort to understand howaggressivemarketingmight affect youth subgroups. Empirical evidence demonstrated that Black and Hispanic youth spent significantly more time engaging with media compared to White youth—up to eight hours more a day— potentially increasing exposure to marketing and any ill effects. The issue of magnified effects and differential influences reemerged as I began research that investigated the relationship of food and beverage marketing (FBM) to obesity. Black and Hispanic youth have significantly higher rates of obesity than White and Asian youth, and typically protective factors such as income, education, and social mobility are less protective for Black children than for White children (Smith et al. 2019). Obesity disparities correspond to broader racial health disparities reflected by earlier onset, greater severity, and higher mortality rates across multiple disease categories, at an estimated cost to society of $320 billion annually.Health disparities reflect societal injustice and reinforce the need for scholars to value overlookedpopulation segments. Black and Hispanic youth are the target of intense marketing efforts given their psychosocial characteristics, demographic growth, media use patterns, and influence on the broader youth culture (Grier and Kumanyika 2010). Such targeted marketing challenges researchers, policy actors, consumer advocates, and marketing industry players to understand levels of risk regarding the health-related impacts of marketing and to identify appropriate interventions. Policy actors need and want research guidance about target marketing to maneuver sociopolitical dynamics as they develop targeted interventions (Grier and Schaller 2020). The lack of research that centers on the experiences, opportunities, and challenges faced by minoritized youth hampers the development of initiatives to mitigate any negative effects of target marketing and misses opportunities to design positive marketing initiatives.