Top

Published in:

01-10-2014

“Racism Still Exists”: A Public Health Intervention Using Racism “Countermarketing” Outdoor Advertising in a Black Neighborhood

Author: Naa Oyo A. Kwate

Published in: Journal of Urban Health | Issue 5/2014

Abstract

The negative health effects of racism have been well documented, but how to intervene to redress these effects has been little studied. This study reports on RISE (Racism Still Exists), a high-risk, high-reward public health intervention that used outdoor advertising to disseminate a “countermarketing” campaign in New York City (NYC). Over 6 months, the campaign advertised stark facts about the persistence of racism in the USA. A probability sample of N = 144 participants from two predominantly Black NYC neighborhoods completed measures of health status, health behaviors, and social attitudes. Three months postintervention, statistically significant declines in psychological distress were seen among study participants who were exposed to the campaign compared to those who were not. There were no changes in other hypothesized outcomes. The campaign also generated significant public discourse, particularly in social media. The results suggest that racism countermarketing campaigns may have promise as a community-based intervention to address health inequalities.

Cuffee YL, Hargraves JL, Allison J. Exploring the association between reported discrimination and hypertension among African Americans: a systematic review. Ethn Dis. 2012; 22: 422–431.PubMed

Mays VM, Cochran SD, Barnes NW. Race, race-based discrimination, and health outcomes among African Americans. Annu Rev Psychol. 2007; 58: 201–225.PubMedCrossRefPubMedCentral

Paradies Y. A systematic review of empirical research on self-reported racism and health. Int J Epidemiol. 2006; 35: 888–901.PubMedCrossRef

Pascoe EA, Smart RL. Perceived discrimination and health: a meta-analytic review. Psychol Bull. 2009; 135(4): 531–554.PubMedCrossRefPubMedCentral

Williams DR, Mohammed SA. Discrimination and racial disparities in health: evidence and needed research. J Behav Med. 2008; 32(1): 20–47.PubMedCrossRefPubMedCentral

Delgado R, Stefancic J. Critical race theory: an introduction. New York: New York University Press; 2001.

Hochschild JL. Ambivalence about equality in the United States or, did Tocqueville get it wrong and why does that matter? Soc Justice Res. 2006; 19(1): 43–62.CrossRef

Jost JT, Banaji MR, Nosek BA. A decade of system justification theory: accumulated evidence of conscious and unconscious bolstering of the status quo. Political Psychol. 2004; 25(6): 881–919.CrossRef

Jones CP. Levels of racism: a theoretic framework and a gardener's tale. Am J Public Health. 2002; 90: 1212–1215.

10.

Krieger N, Sidney S. Racial discrimination and blood pressure: the CARDIA Study of young Black and White adults. Am J Public Health. 1996; 86(10): 1370–1378.PubMedCrossRefPubMedCentral

11.

Huebner DM, Davis MC. Perceived antigay discrimination and physical health outcomes. Health Psychol. 2007; 26(5): 627–634.PubMedCrossRef

12.

Levy Paluck E, Green DP. Prejudice reduction: what works? A review and assessment of research and practice. Annu Rev Psychol. 2009; 60: 339–367.CrossRef

13.

Hackbarth D, Silvestri B, Cosper W. Tobacco and alcohol billboards in 50 Chicago neighborhoods: market segmentation to sell dangerous products to the poor. J Public Health Policy. 1995; 16: 213–230.PubMedCrossRef

14.

Kwate NOA, Jernigan M, Lee TH. Prevalence, proximity, and predictors of alcohol ads in Central Harlem. Alcohol Alcohol. 2007; 42(6): 635–640.PubMedCrossRef

15.

Moore H, Jones-Webb R, Toomey T, Lenk K. Alcohol advertising on billboards, transit shelters, and bus benches in inner-city neighborhoods. Contemp Drug Problems. 2009; 35(2/3): 509–532.

16.

Outdoor Advertising Association of America I. Take your message further (video). 2013; Available at: http://www.oaaa.org/OutofHomeAdvertising/OutofHomeAdvertising.aspx

17.

DuRant RH, Wolfson M, LaFrance B, Balkrishnan R, Altman D. An evaluation of a mass media campaign to encourage parents of adolescents to talk to their children about sex. J Adolesc Health. 2006; 38: 298.e1–298.e9.CrossRef

18.

King EL, Grunseit AC, O'Hara BJ, Bauman AE. Evaluating the effectiveness of an Australian obesity mass-media campaign: how did the 'Measure-Up' campaign measure up in New South Wales? Health Educ Behav. 2013; 28(6): 1029–1039.

19.

Leavy JE, Bull FC, Rosenberg M, Bauman A. Physical activity mass media campaigns and their evaluation: a systematic review of the literature 2003–2010. Health Educ Res. 2011; 26(6): 1060–1085.PubMedCrossRef

20.

Farrelly MC, Davis KC, Haviland ML, Messeri P, Healton CG. Evidence of a dose–response relationship between "truth" antismoking ads and youth smoking prevalence. Am J Public Health. 2005; 95(3): 425–431.PubMedCrossRefPubMedCentral

21.

Dorfman L, Wallack L. Advertising health: the case for counter-ads. Public Health Rep. 1993; 108(6): 716–726.PubMedPubMedCentral

22.

Krieger N, Kosheleva A, Waterman PD, Chen JT, Koenen K. Racial discrimination, psychological distress, and self-rated health among US-born and foreign-born Black Americans. Am J Public Health. 2011; 101(9): 1704–1713.PubMedCrossRefPubMedCentral

23.

Brick JM, Williams D. Explaining rising nonresponse rates in cross-sectional surveys. Ann Am Acad Political Soc Sci. 2013; 645: 36–59.CrossRef

24.

Harrell SP. Development and initial validation of scales to measure racism-related stress. In: 6th Biennial Conference on Community Research and Action, Society for Community Research and Action (Division 27-American Psychological Association). Columbia, South Carolina; 1997.

25.

Grills C, Longshore D. Africentrism: psychometric analyses of a self-report measure. J Black Psychol. 1996; 22: 86–106.CrossRef

26.

Krieger N, Smith K, Naishadham D, Hartman C, Barbeau EM. Experiences of discrimination: validity and reliability of a self-report measure for population health research on racism and health. Soc Sci Med. 2005; 61: 1576–1596.PubMedCrossRef

27.

Williams DR, Jackson JS, Anderson NB. Racial differences in physical and mental health: socio-economic status, stress, and discrimination. J Health Psychol. 1997; 2: 335–351.PubMedCrossRef

28.

Earls FJ, Brooks-Gunn J, Raudenbush SW, Sampson RJ. Project on human development in Chicago Neighborhoods: Community Survey, 1994–1995, data collection instrument. Ann Arbor, MI: ICPSR; 1994.

29.

Kessler RC, Barker PR, Colpe LJ, Epstein JF, Gfroerer JC, Hiripi E, et al. Screening for serious mental illness in the general population. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2003; 60: 184–189.PubMedCrossRef

30.

Brondolo E, Brady Ver Halen N, Pencille M, Beatty D, Contrada RJ. Coping with racism: a selective review of the literature and a theoretical and methodological critique. J Behav Med. 2009; 32(1): 64–88.PubMedCrossRefPubMedCentral

31.

Neblett EW, Carter SE. The protective role of racial identity and Africentric worldview in the association between racial discrimination and blood pressure. Psychosom Med. 2012; 74: 509–516.PubMedCrossRef

32.

Brown DL, Tylka TL. Racial discrimination and resilience in African American young adults: examining racial socialization as a moderator. J Black Psychol. 2011; 37(3): 259–285.CrossRef

33.

West C. Democracy matters. New York, NY: Penguin; 2004.

34.

Elligan D, Utsey S. Utility of an African-centered support group for African American men confronting societal racism and oppression. Cult Divers Ethn Minor Psychol. 1999; 5(2): 156–165.CrossRef

35.

National Endowment for the Arts. How Art Works: The National Endowment for the Arts' Five-Year Research Agenda, with a System Map and Measurement Model. Washington, DC: Author; 2012.

36.

Link BG, Phelan J. Social conditions as fundamental causes of disease. J Health Soc Behav. 1995; 36: 80–94.CrossRef

37.

Sampson RJ. Great American city: Chicago and the enduring neighborhood effect. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press; 2012.

38.

Milstein Sondheimer R, Green DP. Using experiments to estimate the effects of education on voter turnout. Am J Polit Sci. 2010; 54(1): 174–189.CrossRef

39.

Gerber AS, Green DP. Field experiments: design, analysis, and interpretation. New York, NY: Norton; 2012.

40.

Weeksville Heritage Center. 2013; Available at: https://www.facebook.com/weeksville

41.

Brooklyn Movement Center. 2013; Available at: http://brooklynmovementcenter.org

42.

Interschool Council on Undoing Racism. 2013; Available at: https://www.facebook.com/ICUR.NYC

43.

King J. Series of Brooklyn billboards put racial inequity on display. Colorlines: News for Action 2013 January 11, 2013. Available at: http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/01/bed_stuy_billboards.html. Accessed 5 Apr 2014.

44.

Peytchev A. Consequences of survey nonresponse. Ann Am Acad Political Soc Sci. 2013; 645: 88–111.CrossRef

45.

Nohr EA, Olsen J. Commentary: epidemiologists have debated representativeness for more than 40 years-has the time come to move on? Int J Epidemiol. 2013; 42: 1016–1017.PubMedCrossRef

46.

Richiardi L, Pizzi C, Pearce N. Commentary: representativeness is usually not necessary and often should be avoided. Int J Epidemiol. 2013; 42: 1018–1022.PubMedCrossRef

47.

Rothman KJ, Gallacher JEJ, Hatch EE. Why representativeness should be avoided. Int J Epidemiol. 2013; 42: 1012–1014.PubMedCrossRefPubMedCentral

48.

New York City, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. EpiQuery: NYC Interactive Health Data, 2012. Available at: https://a816-healthpsi.nyc.gov/epiquery/. Accessed 5 Apr 2014.

49.

Vergara CJ, Gillette H. "Invincible Cities." 2006; Available at: http://invinciblecities.camden.rutgers.edu/intro.html. Pg. 3. Accessed 5 Apr 2014.

50.

Hill CP. Just another American story? The first Black First Family. Qual Sociol. 2012; 35: 123–141.CrossRef

51.

Vergara CJ. Harlem: the unmaking of a ghetto. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press; 2013.

52.

Wilder CS. A covenant with color: race and social power in Brooklyn. New York, NY: Columbia University Press; 2000.

53.

Wray RJ, Jupka K, Ludwig-Bell C. A community-wide media campaign to promote walking in a Missouri town. Prev Chron Dis. 2005; 2(4): 1–17.

54.

Gerber AS, Gimpel JG, Green DP, Shaw DR. How large and long-lasting are the persuasive effects of televised campaign ads? Results from a randomized field experiment. Am Political Sci Rev. 2011; 105(1): 135–150.CrossRef

55.

Wideman JE. The seat not taken. New York Times. 2010; 6: 2010.

Title: “Racism Still Exists”: A Public Health Intervention Using Racism “Countermarketing” Outdoor Advertising in a Black Neighborhood
Author: Naa Oyo A. Kwate
Publication date: 01-10-2014
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Journal of Urban Health / Issue 5/2014
Print ISSN: 1099-3460
Electronic ISSN: 1468-2869
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-014-9873-8

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

“Racism Still Exists”: A Public Health Intervention Using Racism “Countermarketing” Outdoor Advertising in a Black Neighborhood

Abstract

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 5/2014

Effects of Regulation on Methadone and Buprenorphine Provision in the Wake of Hurricane Sandy

Racial Disparities in Diabetes Mortality in the 50 Most Populous US Cities

A Flexible Urban Health Index for Small Area Disparities

Disparities in Built and Natural Features of Urban Parks: Comparisons by Neighborhood Level Race/Ethnicity and Income

Residential Trajectories of Street Youth—the Montréal Cohort Study

Using Syndemic Theory to Understand Vulnerability to HIV Infection among Black and Latino Men in New York City