Last week I decided to save money on an Uber by bringing my friend to Salem via train. Through my journey from Mattapan to Ashmont into Boston and onto Salem, I decided to take note of the different advertisements that I see whilst riding. I found correlations between the races that of which reside near whatever train I was on and the difference in wording, images, and seemingly targeted audience that the advertisements I saw had. Through the correlations that I thought I made, I went home and decided to research further. Why are ads of mental illnesses and addiction primarily placed on trains that have a neighborhood predominately consisting of minorities? What is the reasoning behind the differing ads in the center of Boston and the ads I saw in Mattapan? Do these ads have a certain targeted audience and if so how do advertisement companies pick and choose what ads to place and where? And so begins my journey.
My friend and I wait for the trolley with the rest of the commuters, but we stick out like a sore thumb- we are the only white people. I hop on the train and look around taking into account the ads placed on the sides of the inside of the trolley. “One Mattapan, One Community,” each slogan placed on top of a smiling face of differing races, none of which are Caucasian. “The population of Boston, MA is 43.9% White Alone, 23.1% Black or African American Alone, and 20.4% Hispanic or Latino. 38.5% of the people in Boston, MA speak a non-English language, and 85.2% are U.S. citizens” (Data USA). To my left I see a pregnant Latina woman probably my age, struggling to get her toddler to sit down. To my right is an elderly African American woman holding a dollar store plastic bag, wearing holed up tennis shoes with the big “S” for Skechers on the side of them, and sitting directly across from us I see a man and woman, skinny beyond all belief with sores up and down their arms, and the words they were mumbling out loud didn’t make any sense.
We get off at the last trolley stop called Ashmont where the trolley meets the T train that transfers us into Boston. This is the first stop on the red line so naturally the car starts off empty and fills as we get closer to the center of the city. I look around at the ads on this train and now I see the walls plastered with medically aimed ads, “Do you feel anxious? Are you stressed out? Participate in a research based study and receive compensation of up to twenty dollars an hour.” The next ad read “Do you feel down on a regular basis? Do you suffer from depression? Get compensated to be a part of our Harvard clinical trial.” And the ad next to that one says “Are you or someone you know suffering from addiction? Call now to see if you qualify to receive free treatment at our rehabilitation center.” Who were these ads targeting? It was almost as if the train knew who was going to be reading them, it knew the audience it was speaking to. The first ad was speaking to the stressed twenty year old pregnant Latina woman trying to get her toddler to sit down while also struggling because her belly is about to pop again. The second ad was speaking to the old woman feeling down every day that the life she lives can only afford her the same pair of sneakers that now have holes in them. And the last advertisement was targeting the two addicts that sat across from me on the trolley speaking words that made no sense. “Knowing and understanding your ideal customer will be a big help with location-based advertising. You don't want to just throw everything on the wall and see what sticks. Strategize and hone in on who you serve” (Forbes 2017).
Looking around at the train car and seeing that the majority of faces around me were minorities I began to wonder if these ads were targeting them because their ethnicities are more likely to suffer from the illnesses posed in the ads? After researching anxiety, depression, and addiction percentages across all races in order compare to if minorities suffer from mental illness more, I was shocked to find that white people are the most common race to suffer from a mental illness. Mental and behavioral disorders exist within 61.3% of white people, 17.8% of Hispanic people, 13.3% of black people, 5.7% of Asians, 1.3% of American Indians, and only 0.2% of Pacific Islanders or the other (American Psychiatric Association 2019). So why were these ads on the MBTA train from Ashmont to Boston so specific as to only depicting mental illnesses all the while targeting the same audience that is least likely to suffer from them? And just why does society expect that these minorities are the ones suffering from these illnesses? And why does society expect the minorities to be the ones riding this train? Is it because of the fact that Latinos report feeling higher levels of self-stigma and are more likely to say that they would conceal a potential mental health problem from coworkers than whites? (Wong 2019). Why are these ads (directed to whatever audience is riding this commute and the riders primarily being a minority) placed inside the trains of areas of marginalized races when “studies conducted with samples representative of general populations in the United States have yielded mixed findings; racial and ethnic minorities have been found to have higher, lower, or no different levels of stigma than whites?” (Wong 2019).
My friend and I are an hour into our journey and are entering Boston. The train car is full, only now there is a widely diverse group of individuals. What once was a car filled with minorities trying to get home in Mattapan, was now a car filled with middle class business men and women who agreed that taking the train three stops was a quicker way to get to work than taking an Uber. If we are to look at poverty by race and ethnicity, we find that those most likely to be living below the poverty line in Boston are those of Hispanic background, followed by blacks, and then whites. The price of living in a Boston centered home as opposed to the price of living in an outer Boston area such as Mattapan drastically differs.
In markets where low-income households spend significant amounts — on housing, childcare, food, transport, clothing, and services regulated through occupational licensing — interventions designed to achieve other objectives restrict supply and in turn raise prices. Since these goods are relative necessities, these interventions impose disproportionate burdens on the poor. They are left with less disposable income, heightening calls for further taxpayer-funded redistribution or government interventions to counteract the effects of the policy (CATO Institute 2018).
While those same anxiety, depression, and addiction ads remain inside the train car, I see different ads plastered against the outside walls of the station. “Add a third line to your plan and get the new iPhone 11 free, join Verizon now,” “Vans back to school sale,” “Graduate with a degree from UMASS, online classes available,” “Energy when you’re up, Vitamin Water.” According to Data USA, the average income for an Asian person in the Boston area is $74,395, $66,758 for a white person, and the number decreasing to $38,348 for any other race. In neighborhoods with high percentages of families that live below the poverty level, they are shown to have higher concentrations of total billboards. This is mainly due to the the assumption that individuals of higher socioeconomic status are expected to have a greater variety of media (newspapers, magazines, television, internet, smart phones), therefore outdoor advertising needs less density in these areas. This is a term coined as “Ghettoizing” advertising. Research shows that there are almost twice the number of billboards in these communities than those that are predominately white, “2.2 billboards per 1,000 residents in black communities versus 1.1 in white and other communities” (Kwate 2019).
In the South End of Boston the median household income for a black person is $161,667 where as in Forest Hills that median shoots down to $23,750. Monetarily speaking, it would only make sense that the iPhone 11 ad be placed in the South End (the area of higher income) but why aren’t the same “Are you depressed, anxious, addicted” ads put in the South End too?
Different income calls for different audiences calls for different ads and because of this, the neighborhoods of minorities are also disproportionately targeted with ads marketing alcohol and tobacco compared to those of white neighborhoods (Kwate 2019). It would seem as though the advertisement companies don’t associate those who suffer from depression, anxiety, nor on an addictive substance with those of a higher income- yet I look around at the business attire of those around me and notice that almost every one of them either had a Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks cup in their hand. Isn’t coffee an addictive substance? The caffeine in coffee enhances dopamine signaling in the brain which causes the same stimulation that methamphetamine and MDMA cause. The National Institute for Drug Abuse classifies an addiction as “the uncontrolled (or “compulsive”) use of a substance even when it causes negative consequences for the person using it” (NIDA 2019). Many coffee drinkers are familiar with the withdrawals if they don’t drink their morning cup- tiredness, headaches, insomnia, and so on. The symptoms of someone on meth are increased wakefulness, decreased appetite, faster breathing, rapid heartbeat (NIH 2019)- sound similar to that of coffee? So although we all know coffee is not nearly as detrimental as methamphetamine, it’s safe to pose the question as to why society sees it as socially acceptable to place the addiction ads in the train car riding from Ashmont, but not in the cars riding intercity in Boston?
According to the 2003 NSDUH, 38.2% of White young adults 18 to 25 years of age in the U.S. reported any illicit drug use in the past year, followed by African-American (30.6%) and Hispanic (27.5%) young adults (McCabe 2019). So why does society associate young black males as the troublesome youth that walks around smoking marajuana? Why is it that our brains have a deeply rooted stigma that the white population are the ones who are better off, don’t do drugs, and suffer less from mental illnesses? Why, if all statistics state otherwise, does society continue to mold the minority races into a certain box filled with false labels that incessantly suppress them to the bottom of the societal social class ladder?
Transferring from the inter-city train to the commuter rail (train that travels to and from far distances) I notice that the percentage of minority races is almost completely cut out and rather than my friend and I being the only white people, a Latina mother and her son are the only non-caucasians in our train car. It would seem that the price of the commuter rail rising five to ten dollars as it begins to travel further distances creates an invisible monetary wall that people of certain races cannot climb. There are 41 neighborhoods in Boston and the neighborhood with the highest percentage of a black population is Mattapan at 95.7%, followed by Roxbury with 94.2%, Hyde Park at 744.2%, and South Dorchester at 73.6%. The percentage of African Americans doesn’t fall under 60% until we reach Mission Hill and eventually end up in the center of the City with the black population resting at 54.7%. Adversely, the North End of Boston has the highest percentage of a white population at 88.2% of people, Haymarket at 78.3%, Chestnut Hill resting at 73.8%, Fenway at 62.2%, and the percentage equalling out to a 50/50 ratio when we once again reach the center of Boston (Statistical Atlas 2018). Seeings that North Station resides in the Haymarket neighborhood (predomintely white percentage), it would seem as though the five dollar price increase for train tickets is highly targeted at the white population that of which surrounds this train station. What becomes interesting is the correlation between the increase in ticket price as you travel further North of Boston and the decrease in black population. It seems eerily coincidental that it’s almost as if these ticket prices are purposefully keeping out those of non-white background.
Last week I decided to save money on an Uber by bringing my friend to Salem via train. Through my journey from Mattapan to Ashmont into Boston and onto Salem, I did find correlations between the placement of ads on each train and the neighborhoods surrounding them. I did find that ads of mental illness and addiction were placed on trains with surrounding areas predominately consisting of minorities. Through further research I found that income has a play in the scheme of advertising strategies as well. Advertising companies do target certain audiences, only they target populations based off of stigma and false stereotypes and so begins my journey- to bring attention to the detriments of society that keep the oppressed suppressed and the rich, rich.