Alcohol, Gambling, Fast Food, Guns: How Billboards Harm Disadvantaged Neighborhoods

BILLBOARD WATCH-The Latino community of Boyle Heights just east of downtown Los Angeles has one of the highest poverty rates in the city. People in that community are also exposed to more billboard ads for alcohol and gambling than other, higher-income areas, according to a study by USC researchers. 

The results of the year-long study of billboard advertising in seven areas of the city was published in the April, 2014 issue of the American Journal of Public Health. It identified potentially harmful and unhealthful ad content as alcohol, fast food, depictions of guns and violence, misogynistic portrayals of women, and TV programs deemed inappropriate for children.  

The study concluded that “…advertisements with harmful content are more likely to be present in non-white communities where residents confront a wide range of other challenges, including heightened financial, education, and health risks.” 

The seven areas chosen for the study are among 21 areas where new off-site signs, including digital billboards, would be allowed in special sign districts. That provision is part of a revised citywide sign ordinance now pending before the City Council. 

One of the areas that would be eligible for a sign district and new billboards is Chinatown, where the USC researchers found the highest concentration of all types of harmful billboard advertising. Other areas getting a large dose of this advertising, in addition to the aforementioned Boyle Heights, were Van Nuys, which is heavily Latino, and Baldwin Hills, which has a majority African-American population. 

In contrast, the area around Ventura Blvd. in Encino is predominately white, and the concentration of harmful billboard ads found by researchers was significantly lower there. 

The study, by Bryce Lowery and David Sloane, poses the question of how the city’s zoning and land-use decisions can adversely affect public health in communities.  One obvious answer would be that allowing new signs, especially digital billboards with their bright, flashy ads, is not a good thing for communities that already struggle with issues of addiction, poor health, and violence.

 

(Dennis Hathaway is the president of the Ban Billboard Blight coalition.  He can be reached at: [email protected]) 

-cw

 

---

{module [862]} {module [662]} 

---

 

 

 

CityWatch

Vol 12 Issue 60

Pub: Jul 25, 2014