TY - JOUR
T1 - Prevalence of violent advertisements in New York City subways
AU - Fullwood, Dottington
AU - Cameron, Carrie
AU - Means, Sydney
AU - Anton, Stephen
AU - Stickley, Zachary L.
AU - Hale, Randal
AU - Wilkie, Diana J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Background: Media advertisements displaying aggression and violence in public transit spaces represent a public health concern. The high visibility of ads likely contributes to increased levels of aggression among New York City (NYC) youths traveling across boroughs. Given the importance of the physical, psychological and social environment in shaping the lives of youth, additional attention is warranted regarding how media advertisements are promoted within public transit spaces across America. The aim of this study was to document quantity and placement of advertisements illustrating aggressive and violent content throughout the NYC public transit subway system. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted over a five-day period in June 2017. Direct observation was used to document all advertisements within every NYC Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) subway station (N = 472) in four NYC boroughs: Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens. Static media advertisements with/without aggressive and violent content displayed on subway platform wall panels above and underground were counted, photographed and described with a mobile app. Results: Aggressive and violent ads in the MTA were pervasive. Subway platforms displayed advertising consisting of guns, individuals fighting and attacking, and words with aggressive language. Conclusion: Public transit spaces provide unregulated visual and verbal messages without citizen participation. Subway stations in NYC and across the country prohibition stance could be a model for violent content reduction. Given the pervasive and tragic effects of aggression and violence on youth and adults, transit agencies could inundate passengers with positive advertising content. Dialogue between citizens and transit agencies to remove noxious messages from public transit spaces warrants the same discussion given to banning alcohol advertisements.
AB - Background: Media advertisements displaying aggression and violence in public transit spaces represent a public health concern. The high visibility of ads likely contributes to increased levels of aggression among New York City (NYC) youths traveling across boroughs. Given the importance of the physical, psychological and social environment in shaping the lives of youth, additional attention is warranted regarding how media advertisements are promoted within public transit spaces across America. The aim of this study was to document quantity and placement of advertisements illustrating aggressive and violent content throughout the NYC public transit subway system. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted over a five-day period in June 2017. Direct observation was used to document all advertisements within every NYC Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) subway station (N = 472) in four NYC boroughs: Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens. Static media advertisements with/without aggressive and violent content displayed on subway platform wall panels above and underground were counted, photographed and described with a mobile app. Results: Aggressive and violent ads in the MTA were pervasive. Subway platforms displayed advertising consisting of guns, individuals fighting and attacking, and words with aggressive language. Conclusion: Public transit spaces provide unregulated visual and verbal messages without citizen participation. Subway stations in NYC and across the country prohibition stance could be a model for violent content reduction. Given the pervasive and tragic effects of aggression and violence on youth and adults, transit agencies could inundate passengers with positive advertising content. Dialogue between citizens and transit agencies to remove noxious messages from public transit spaces warrants the same discussion given to banning alcohol advertisements.
KW - Advertising
KW - Aggression
KW - New York City
KW - Subways
KW - Violence
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85110770112&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85110770112&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.34172/hpp.2021.27
DO - 10.34172/hpp.2021.27
M3 - Article
C2 - 34195046
AN - SCOPUS:85110770112
SN - 2228-6497
VL - 11
SP - 219
EP - 229
JO - Health Promotion Perspectives
JF - Health Promotion Perspectives
IS - 2
ER -