McDonald's targets minorities

Most of us are aware that McDonald's and other fast food chains are not healthy food choices. Yet, McDonald's has targeted minorities for many years by intentionally marketing their unhealthy foods to low income minorities. Due to residential segregation, McDonald's and other fast food chains have taken the opportunity to establish most of their restaurants into poor and segregated neighborhoods where they can sell cheap and unhealthy food choices to the low-income minority population. As a result, many of these low-income neighborhoods suffer because of the high consumption of fast food, which causes an increase of obesity and diabetes. Therefore, by McDonald's marketing their cheap food to minorities they have managed to successfully make large profits.

According to Hope Landrine, a researcher for the American Cancer Society, “Two to three times as many fast food outlets are located in segregated black neighborhoods than in white neighborhoods of comparable socioeconomic status, contributing to higher black consumption of fatty, salty meals and in turn widening racial disparities in obesity and diabetes. Black neighborhoods contain two to three times fewer supermarkets than comparable white neighborhoods, creating the kind of “food deserts” that make it difficult for residents who depend on public transportation to purchase the fresh fruits and vegetables that make for a healthy diet.” Therefore, it is easier for McDonald's and other fast food chains to market their food to minorities because they offer a cheap and fast way for minorities to obtain food, since there are fewer supermarkets where they can purchase fruits and vegetables and many of the grocery stores which are called “Bodegas” in these low income neighborhood raise the prices of their fruits and vegetables.

McDonald's has successfully targeted minorities groups through advertising. For example, I was not surprised when I entered the Mcdonald’s website and found several links or websites that targeted specific minority groups such as www.meencanta.com, which is targeted to the Latin community. Other Websites include, www.myinspirasian.com that targets the Asian community and www.mcdonalds.com/365black, which targets the African American community.

            

I have also found some ads that depict how McDonald's has targeted colored people throughout the years. If you click on the link below you will see some ads from the 1970s, which targets working class African American families:

http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2008/09/21/targeted-mcdonalds-ads-from-the-1970s/

            I found the ad attached below very offensive because it perpetuates racial stereotypes towards African Americans as it assumes that colored people do not know how to speak when they used the phrase “dinnertimin’ or anytimin.”Also, the ad assumes that colored people do not have enough money to dress up for dinner or tip at restaurants. Yet, ads like this have successfully targeted minorities and still continue to appear in our television screens as many of the McDonald’s commercials depict African Americans, Latinos and Asians.

Question: Have you noticed the advertising trends that McDonald's has created to target minorities?