Unhealthy exposures: Health-promoting and health-compromising product advertisements in Black, Hispanic, and White women's magazines

Minority women suffer from preventable diseases at higher rates than their white peers. Previous research has shown that unequal promotion of health-compromising food, tobacco, and beverage products to minorities could be a factor in health disparities in obesity, diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases among minorities compared to whites. The purpose of this study was to document the differences in food, beverage, and tobacco product advertising to three different racial groups in popular magazines. A content analysis of food, beverage, and tobacco product advertisements show that Black women are exposed to twice as many health-compromising product advertisements than health-promoting products, whereas Hispanic women are exposed to health-compromising and health-promoting products at about an equal rate. White women are exposed to health-compromising and health-promoting products at a 1:3 ratio. Future research is needed to explore the effects these differences in advertising have on health disparities.