KCS workers at a rally final yr.
Picture courtesy of KCS
When New Yorkers go to Korean Group Companies (KCS), they usually search training for way of life modifications, diet counseling, and assist for stopping and managing persistent situations. Many are seniors or people who find themselves food-insecure in want of nutritionally balanced meals and different wellness providers to take care of their well being.
Past restricted entry to recent, nutritious meals, they’re additionally up towards a strong menace: predatory meals advertising backed by mega-corporations. With deceptive meals and beverage advertisements dominating each digital area, a number of our shoppers merely purchase whichever merchandise they see most. Too usually, they’re surprised to be taught that most of the meals they’ve lengthy consumed are dangerous to their well being. Excessive-calorie gadgets like white rice, soju, and prepackaged instantaneous noodles, that are equally heavy in sodium, prime the listing of merchandise to which our group’s overexposed.
This misinformation isn’t their fault — it’s the results of deliberate trade advertising techniques. Meals and beverage firms spend billions on advertisements selling sugary drinks, salty snacks, and nutrient-poor meals. They aggressively goal communities of colour with predatory advertising, pushing unhealthy merchandise onto unsuspecting customers. Analysis reveals that these advertisements play a serious function in widening racial well being disparities, disproportionately reaching these with the least entry to reasonably priced, nutritious meals.
That’s why New York should take motion to curb these misleading practices by passing the Predatory Advertising and marketing Prevention Act (PMPA).
Sponsored by State Senator Myrie and Meeting Member Reyes, the PMPA would permit the New York State Lawyer Basic to analyze and restrict predatory meals advertising geared toward youngsters, seniors, and residents with disabilities.
Given the alarming rise in persistent diet-related diseases statewide, New York must act quick and move this invoice. Roughly 13% of Asian New Yorkers have been recognized with diabetes and 24% with hypertension. In neighborhoods like Flushing—the place KCS relies and 55% of residents are Asian—the affect of such advertising is clear. In our group, as much as 16% % of adults eat not less than one sugary drink a day.
Seniors, specifically, are a rising goal of those aggressive advertising techniques. Many depend on fastened incomes and are drawn to cheap, closely marketed processed meals that declare to supply comfort however as an alternative contribute to worsening well being situations. In line with a 2022 examine, older adults who usually eat ultra-processed meals have a 24% increased danger of cognitive decline. For seniors and shoppers like ours, managing diabetes, hypertension, or coronary heart illness, predatory advertising is particularly life-threatening.
KCS is working with different well being suppliers and advocacy organizations to assist shut these racial well being gaps, however we’d like robust public well being laws to bolster our efforts. The PMPA provides simply that. Our state should seize this chance to safeguard New Yorkers from dangerous meals advertising and advance public well being.
We’re nearly there.
The New York State Senate simply included the PMPA in its 2025 one-house price range decision, and the invoice obtained a vote of confidence from the Senate Committee on Shopper Safety. However there’s extra work forward to formally enact the PMPA.
We urge the complete legislature to behave now and move the PMPA throughout this legislative session. The well being of our group members will depend on it.
Myoungmi Lim (left) and Sara Kim (proper). Picture courtesy of KCS
*Myoungmi Kim is the CEO and Sara Kim is the Program Director of Public Well being and Analysis Middle at KCS. The Korean Group Companies of Metropolitan New York (KCS) assists Korean-Individuals and different immigrant communities within the higher New York Metropolis space with financial empowerment, social well-being, and well being and wellness. Myoungmi Kim leads the group as CEO and Sara Kim is the Program Director of Public Well being and Analysis Middle.
