Advertising Trade Organizations Unite To Fight Citizenship Question On 2020 U.S. Census Questionnaire

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The four largest trade associations in the advertising industry have written a joint letter to the DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE voicing their opposition to the Republican-backed push to add a new question to the 2020 U.S. Census questionnaire that asks, “Is this person a citizen of the UNITED STATES?”

In the letter, signed by AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ADVERTISING AGENCIES (THE 4A'S) Pres./CEO MARLA KAPLOWITZ, ASSOCIATION OF NATIONAL ADVERTISERS (ANA) CEO BOB LIODICE, AMERICAN ADVERTISING FEDERATION Pres./CEO JAMES EDMUND DATRI, and the ADVERTISING RESEARCH FOUNDATION Pres./CEO SCOTT MCDONALD, the groups say that they are "concerned that the addition of a citizenship question would depress response among both non-citizens and their families (even if family members are indeed citizens). That runs the risk of non-respondent bias by significantly undercounting immigrant, minority, and low-income populations. If immigrants and others avoid the national head-count, the census results will be flawed." 

The letter notes that the flawed results would "distort the representation of U.S. population estimates and the research benchmarked to it. Since the census is the foundation for population estimates that support the marketing industry, inaccurate census data would lead to misallocated marketing resources. It could have a particularly negative impact on media that serve multicultural communities, the companies which research them, and the agencies which help advertise to them. The value marketers see in those consumer segments would be understated and investments reduced."

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