The Potential for Healthy Checkout Policies to Advance Nutrition Equity

Background: As the only place in a store where all customers must pass through and wait, the checkout lane may be particularly influential over consumer purchases. Because most foods and beverages sold at checkout are unhealthy (e.g., candy, sweets, sugar-sweetened beverages, and salty snacks), policymakers and advocates have expressed growing interest in healthy checkout policies. To understand the extent to which such policies could improve nutrition equity, we assessed the prevalence and sociodemographic correlates of purchasing items found at (i.e., from) checkout. Methods: We assessed self-reported checkout purchasing and sociodemographic characteristics in a national convenience sample of adults (n = 10,348) completing an online survey in 2021. Results: Over one third (36%) of participants reported purchasing foods or drinks from checkout during their last grocery shopping trip. Purchasing items from checkout was more common among men; adults < 55 years of age; low-income consumers; Hispanic, non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native, and non-Hispanic Black consumers; those with a graduate or professional degree; parents; and consumers diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes (p-values < 0.05). Conclusions: Purchasing foods or beverages from store checkouts is common and more prevalent among low-income and Hispanic, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Black consumers. These results suggest that healthy checkout policies have the potential to improve nutrition equity.

Black consumers perceptions towards luxury brands in South Africa

The paper determines the black consumers’ perceptions towards luxury brands in South Africa. The purchase of luxury brands has been on the rise locally and internationally. Global brands have been investing in SA by expanding to the region. The demand for luxury brands has also increased over the past decades. In SA, the middle-class group has also increased, particularly the black middle class which increased the market for luxury brands. To achieve the objectives of the study, a survey was conducted among black consumers in Thohoyandou, Venda, South Africa. Data were collected by two fieldworkers who intercepted shoppers visiting a regional mall in the area. Data were analyzed using SPSS 25. The descriptives, factor analysis, and ANOVA were analyzed to achieve the objectives of the study. The findings of the study reveal that black consumers are more influenced by the rarity and uniqueness of the brands followed by the financial and functional values of the brands. Black consumers’ perceptions towards luxury brands were found to differ across age and income groups but did not differ across gender and education levels. Organizations targeting black consumers must design brands that are rare and unique and ensure that brands deliver the financial and functional values desired by black consumers

Epilogue

The department store movement succeeded in opening this world to African Americans and provided them with the means with which to make claims to middle-class citizenship, but it certainly did not foresee the dramatic decline of these retail institutions. The struggle for racial equity in work and consumption, thus, continues. Racial discrimination in the retail industry persists in ways that are consistent with early forms of discrimination—not hiring African Americans in skilled and status positions, and limited black consumers’ mobility in and access to retail institutions. Discrimination is also shaped by and reflective of the changing nature of American retailing, employment, and consumption in the twenty-first century—in that African Americans are hired in sales vis-à-vis cashiering and denied managerial, supervisory, and executive positions.

Deconstructing Representations of African Americans in the Media

A 2014 survey distributed by Runnymede Trust indicates that 74% of respondents believe that media portrayals of minorities promote racism. The media plays a significant role in the ways that African Americans are perceived resulting in implicit bias. Data reveal that biased representations of minorities has existed since the early 1870s. The cinematic representation of African Americans in the media negates reality with portrayals of ignorance and subservience. The chapter uses technical discourse to analyze 20 historical and present advertisements with negative portrayals of African Americans in an attempt to identify strategies used by marketers to dehumanize the Black consumers and shape suburban communities.

Racial Prejudices, Racialized Workplaces, and Restaurant Servers’ Hyperbolic Perceptions of Black–White Tipping Differences

On average, Black consumers have been reliably shown to tip restaurant servers less than their White counterparts, and this difference has been widely acknowledged to contribute to servers’ negative attitudes toward Black customers. However, studies centered on explicating the actual and perceived magnitude of Black–White tipping differences are scarce. Furthermore, there have been no studies conducted that have aimed to identify and test for individual and/or environmental factors that encourage the development and sustainment of exaggerated or stereotypic perceptions of interracial differences in customers’ tipping practices. In response, this study offers an unconditional meta-estimate of the Black–White tipping differential to this literature. Given the available published evidence, we estimate that as a percentage of the bill, the average Black customer is likely to leave a tip that is 3.30 percentage points less than would be left by a White customer. In addition, by analyzing data derived from a factorial survey experiment that was administered in two independent and demographically diverse samples of servers, this study demonstrates that servers’ perceptions of Black–White tipping differences are significantly shaped by racial antipathy and/or employment in a workplace characterized by anti-Black discourse and observed mistreatment of Black clientele. Taken as a whole, our results suggest that although a Black–White tipping difference does exist, there is a notable segment of the population of restaurant servers, namely, those who harbor prejudicial attitudes and/or work in racialized workplaces, who may cognitively exaggerate the magnitude of this difference. Thus, to curtail the industry challenges that stem from Black–White tipping differences (e.g., service discrimination, lawsuits), restaurant operators are encouraged to devise strategies to actively confront servers’ stereotypic perceptions of Black customers’ tipping behaviors.

King of Selling

S.B. Fuller was one of the most successful black entrepreneurs of the twentieth century. Early on, he primarily catered to black consumers through his Fuller Products Company, a door-to-door direct sales company featuring personal care products. Later, he surreptitiously bought the previously white-owned Boyer International Laboratories whose product line included Jean Nadal cosmetics. When southern whites discovered Fuller’s ownership of Boyer International, a subsequent boycott damaged this aspect of Fuller’s business holdings. In addition, problems associated with his ownership of Chicago’s South Center commercial complex (which included the iconic Regal Theater), led to his bankruptcy. Ironically, Fuller, during his career, publicly downplayed the importance of white racism. Yet, the racially motivated boycott of Boyer International products was the catalyst for later his commercial misfortunes.

“Shopping while Black”: Black consumers’ management of racial stigma and racial profiling in retail settings

This article draws on qualitative interview data collected from 55 African Americans residing in the New York City area to examine African Americans’ experiences of consumer racial profiling or “Shopping While Black.” I find that racial discrimination alters African Americans’ experiences as consumers. Racial stigma in retail settings impacts the consumptive process for Blacks in two central ways. First, retail settings are often sites where anti-Black bias is made evident, requiring Black shoppers to navigate racial hierarchies while procuring goods. Second, discrimination alters the experience of shopping, arguably raising the costs and reducing the rewards derived from consumption. When a store’s sales staff is hesitant to serve Black shoppers or suspects that they are prospective shoplifters, shopping no longer becomes a form of leisure. A qualitative assessment of Blacks’ reports of racial stigma and discrimination in retail settings reveals that race can change the meaning and status attached to goods, when they are sought out or owned by racial minorities. By examining Blacks’ experiences of retail racism and the cultural strategies they adopt in responding to occasions when they are treated discriminatorily, this research brings to light Blacks’ experiences of discrimination on the ground, while also examining how racism impacts the quality of Black consumers’ experiences.