One of the strategies that food and beverage companies use to make people feel like a product is special or just for them is targeted marketing. This tactic involves directing marketing to specific demographics based on race, ethnicity, gender, age, and other characteristics.

Children of color often get what is referred to as a "double dose" of marketing. They are exposed to general food marketing and additional targeted marketing campaigns. This "double dose" poses a threat because the majority of foods advertised are unhealthy.

Food and beverage companies target children of color specifically because they represent a rapidly increasing market with significant economic impact, report high levels of media use, and are believed to be trend-setters for the general public.

Companies reach children of color by:

• Designing products just for them
• Adapting product pricing
• Advertising at places within their communities
• Promoting products by using children's own language and cultural references
• Personalizing digital advertisements

Here are a few examples of targeted marketing playing out in real life:

• Black actors/characters were more likely to appear in soft drink ads and less likely to be shown eating at home compared to white actors.
• Fast food restaurant and sugary snack ads appeared at a higher rate on Spanish-language compared to English-language TV.
• Black youth viewed approximately 50% more ads compared to White youth, beyond differences in TV viewing.
• Middle and high schools with >60% Hispanic population had significantly more outdoor food and beverage ads within a half mile radius compared to schools with <60% Hispanic population in Central Texas.

Over the past two decades, technology, digital media, and the internet have exploded in reach and popularity. This trend has impacted the advertising industry, with digital marketing accounting for roughly two-thirds of total marketing expenditures.

A key tenant of digital marketing is data collection. Companies collect data on an individual's location, age, race, gender, socioeconomic status, likes, and dislikes, just to name a few. They then use this data to tailor their ads to each person viewing them, in an effort to increase the likelihood of ad engagement.

Companies aren't allowed to collect this kind of data from children under 13 without parental consent. However, younger children still slip through the cracks and older youth are still left vulnerable to unfair advertising from food and beverage companies.

Beyond this, food and beverage companies have adopted many new tactics in an effort to further target children for advertising in the digital space. Here are just a few examples:

1. Companies hire influencers, people designated as having the potential to create engagement and drive conversation, to promote their products. 
   • Influencers can be television stars or athletes, but also social media stars or professional gamers.
   • These promotions take advantage of a child's admiration for the person promoting the product and are often designed to seem like entertainment content.
2. Advertising is increasingly being incorporated into other entertainment, like video games, social media, and video streaming. 
   • Food and beverage companies have partnered with online video games to promote their products through branded versions of online video games and sponsorship of e-sports events.
   • Brands have grown their social media presences to appeal more to young people. In some cases, companies have created separate social media accounts for the sole purpose of engaging with younger people.
   • Advertisers and video streaming platforms have developed new types of ads. Short, six second mini ads and non-skippable ads run before and during video content and are hyper-specific based on previously collected personal data.

Currently, companies are able to deduct expenditures related to advertising and marketing from their taxes. This includes food and beverage companies that advertise unhealthy foods and beverages. Through this process, the US government is providing a subsidy for marketing unhealthy food to children.

Advocates and lawmakers have pushed for a change in the tax code to remove the tax deductibility of expenses associated with advertising and marketing foods and beverages of poor nutritional quality to children. Amending the tax code would provide an incentive for companies to decrease unhealthy food marketing to children and could raise $80 million in federal revenue each year.