WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — The U.S. Census Bureau has begun to roll out a $500 million advertising campaign in anticipation of the 2020 Census.
The bureau said most of the advertising focuses on reaching minorities and historically underrepresented communities.
“We have ads specifically targeting African-Americans as a group,” said Kendall Johnson of the Census Bureau. “We also have ads in Haitian creole for the Haitian audience. We have ads that focus on the Afro-Caribbean audience [as well].”
Critics of the campaign argue the bureau is not doing enough to clear up confusion about the controversial citizenship question. The NALEO Educational Fund’s Mario Beovides said there are still a many people who don’t know the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the survey cannot contain a question asking the status of a respondent’s citizenship.
“There is a lot of hesitation among the Latino community as to participating in the upcoming Census,” said Beovides.
A representative from the Census Bureau claims the new ads emphasize that personal information is not shared with anyone including government agencies.
