Despite Health Risks, Companies Continue Persistent, Relentless Push of Sugary Drinks to Black, Hispanic Youth

Amidst increasing calls for Connecticut’s government leaders to declare racism a public health emergency, a new report by the Rudd Center for Good Policy & Obesity at the University of Connecticut is raising renewed concerns.  According to the 73-page report and analysis, “systemic and institutional barriers to health and opportunity … contribute to poorer health outcomes and persistent health disparities” among Black and Hispanic youth nationwide.   

Beverage companies spent $1.04 billion to advertise sugary drinks and energy drinks in 2018, a 26% increase compared to 2013, according to Sugary Drinks FACTS 2020, the newly released report.  It documents in detail the continued extensive targeted advertising of sugary drinks by beverage companies directed to Black and Hispanic youth, which contributes to health disparities affecting communities of color—the same communities that have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.

The report found that more than one-half of the total sugary drink advertising expenditures—$586 million—promoted regular soda and soda brands alone, an increase of 41% over 2013. By contrast, advertising spending for all diet and unsweetened drinks combined, including plain water and 100% juice, totaled $573 million.

Advertising spending increased across a variety of sugary drink categories between 2013 and 2018—sports drink advertising increased by 24%, totaling $159 million in 2018, and advertising for sweetened iced tea almost tripled, from $38 million in 2013 to $111 million in 2018.

The report also found that companies continue to target sugary drink TV ads to Black and Hispanic youth, who have higher rates of sugary drink consumption compared to non-Hispanic White youth. Since obesity and other diet-related diseases disproportionately affect communities of color, targeted advertising of products that contribute to these negative health outcomes is seen as particularly  problematic.

“Our findings demonstrate that beverage companies continue to target their advertising to Black and Hispanic communities, which exacerbates ongoing health disparities affecting those communities” said Jennifer L. Harris, PhD, MBA, lead study author and senior research advisor at the Rudd Center. “Companies should not target communities of color with advertising that almost exclusively promotes unhealthy products and undermines efforts to improve the long-term health of young people.”

The report authors include the following recommendations:

• Beverage companies should commit to discontinue targeted marketing of sugary drinks to communities of color.

• States and localities should enact excise taxes on sugary drinks and invest the resulting revenue in community-defined programs and services to reduce health and socioeconomic disparities.

• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should establish regulations to address unclear labeling practices, such as requiring disclosures of added sugars, low-calorie sweeteners, juice, and caffeine content on the front of product packages.

• States and local municipalities should prohibit the sales of energy drinks and shots to children under age 18 and require they be placed in low-visibility locations (such as behind counters)

• Grassroots and other advocacy groups should develop campaigns to highlight excessive advertising of sugary drinks, especially advertising that disproportionately targets teens and communities of color.

• Healthcare professional organizations should develop campaigns aimed at children and teens to raise awareness about these harms, especially for sugary drinks that are perceived to be healthier than soda (e.g., sports drinks, iced tea, and flavored waters) and energy drinks.

“Beverage companies have promised to take action to reduce the amount of beverage calories people consume, but at the same time they dramatically increased advertising for their full-calorie sugary drinks,” said Fran Fleming-Milici, PhD, a co-author and director of marketing initiatives at the Rudd Center. “It’s well past time for the industry to stop putting profits ahead of our kids’ health and put their advertising dollars behind products that contribute to good health rather than undermine it.”

In 2018, Black preschoolers (2-5 years) and children (6-11 years) saw on average 256 ads for sugary drinks and energy drinks, approximately double the number of ads that White preschoolers and children viewed. Black teens saw 331 of these ads, which was 2.3 times more ads than White teens saw, the Rudd Center analysis indicated.

Differences between ads viewed by Black and White youth can be explained partially by differences in the average amount of time spent watching TV, the report stated. In 2018, on average Black preschoolers watched 39% more hours of TV than White preschoolers watched, Black children watched 69% more than White children, and Black teens watched 78% more than White teens. However, according to the report, differences in sugary drink and energy drink ads viewed for Black versus White youth in all age groups were higher than would be expected given these differences in TV viewing times. Therefore, the report stressed, sugary drinks and energy drinks appeared to continue targeting Black youth by purchasing ads during programming with disproportionately more Black youth in the audience.

In 2018, Black youth viewed more than twice the number of ads than White youth viewed, although they watched just 40% to 80% more TV than their White peers, the analysis found. A 12% increase in ads viewed by Black preschoolers and children occurred despite an approximately 34% decline in TV viewing time from 2013 to 2018.

Researchers collected data on the nutrition quality and advertising of sugary drinks and energy drinks by category, company, and brand, while also identifying categories, brands, and companies with TV advertising targeted to teens, Hispanic youth, and/or Black youth.

Also included among the report’s findings:

• Teens remain a primary target audience for sugary drink advertising. From 2013 to 2018, teens’ exposure to TV advertising increased for regular soda/soda brands (+1%) and iced tea (+68%), despite a 52% decline in time spent watching TV during the same time. Energy drinks and sports drinks targeted their TV advertising directly to teens, as evidenced by high ratios of ads viewed by teens versus adults.

• Preschoolers’ and children’s exposure to sugary drink TV advertising is increasing. Preschoolers’ saw 26% more TV ads for sugary drinks in 2018 than in 2013, and children’s ad exposure increased by 8%. These increases occurred despite a 35% decline in average TV viewing times for preschoolers and a 42% decline for children during the same period.

• Sugary drink advertising was primarily driven by PepsiCo and Coca-Cola brands. PepsiCo and Coca-Cola were responsible for 38% and 31% of all sugary drink advertising spending, respectively. PepsiCo sugary drink advertising spending increased by 28% from 2013 to 2018; Coca-Cola sugary drink advertising increased by 81% during that time period.

The Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at the University of Connecticut is a multidisciplinary center dedicated to promoting solutions to childhood obesity, poor diet, and weight bias through research and policy. The Rudd Center is a leader in building broad-based consensus to change diet and activity patterns by conducting research and educating policy makers. The report was funded by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.