Vallery Lomas

Major and Classification

French

Faculty Mentor

  • Brad Zebrack, Ph.D.

Department

  • Social Work

McNair Project

Advertisements for Psychiatric Medication: Targeting European American Audiences Differently than African American Audiences

Advertisements expose audiences to psychiatric medication. This study counted the number of advertisements for psychotropic drugs. Magazines with high percentages of European American readership and magazines with high percentages of African American readership were evaluated to determine if advertisements for psychotropic drugs were more numerous in magazines with mainly European American audiences. The same evaluation was performed for commercials during television segments with a mainly European American audience opposed to a mainly African American audience. Advertisements targeting European Americans were not only more numerous than those targeting African Americans, but they advertised for a greater variety of drugs. This heightened exposure to psychiatric medication for European Americans.