Urge restaurants serving Black communities: increase & promote healthy offerings to teens
Urge restaurants serving Black communities: increase & promote healthy offerings to teens
Why this petition matters
The National Restaurant Association represents over 380,000 restaurants nationwide. In response to a growing cultural emphasis on healthy diets, the association recently relaunched the Kids LiveWell (KLW) program, which encourages members to adopt, offer, and promote healthy meal options based on established nutrition standards for children ages 12 and under.
However, because diet-related health disparities are worsened by disproportionate marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages to youth of color, we need more healthy meals on menus—especially in restaurants that are popular with Black youth up to age 18—and we need them to be advertised and promoted.
Your voice can make it happen.
Consider the latest facts from the Centers of Disease Control and the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Health:
- Frequently eating food and beverages heavy in salt, saturated fat, and added sugar increases the risk of major chronic diseases, which disproportionately threaten the health of Black communities
- In 2019, Black youth viewed 75% more fast-food ads than White youth
- In 2015 to 2018, fast food accounted for over 20% of the daily calories for Black teens
- Children and teens viewed, on average, more than 2 fast-food ads each day in 2019; national survey data (2015-2018) show that 1 in 3 eat fast food on a given day
- Of the $5 billion fast-food restaurants spent on advertising in 2019, only 1% was allocated toward promoting healthy menu item
Therefore, we urge the National Restaurant Association to:
- Encourage restaurants serving Black communities to adapt and apply existing KLW nutrition standards to menu items that are popular with Black youth up to age 18
- Recommend that restaurants promote these options
- Commit to discussing future change targets with our partner, the Council on Black Health
Your signature not only supports the mission of Operation Good Food & Beverages™, but also plays an essential role in motivating the National Restaurant Association to build on existing progress and achieve lasting change our communities will feel.
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Note: Operation Good Food & Beverages™ is not asking for donations toward this campaign.