Food Branding and Young Children’s Taste Preferences: A Reassessment

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: This study examines the effects of branding and packaging on young children's taste preferences. METHODS: Preschool children aged 3 to 5 (n=65) tasted five pairs of identical foods in packaging from McDonald's and in matched packaging that was either plain, Starbucks-branded, or colourful (but unbranded). Children were asked if the foods tasted the same or if one tasted better. RESULTS: Children preferred the taste of foods wrapped in decorative wrappings, relying more on aesthetics than on familiar branding when making their choices. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest the need to explore questions beyond commercial advertising (and brand promotion) on television and other media platforms. More attention should be directed at the important role of packaging in directing children's food preferences.

The Impact of Marketing and Advertising on Food Behaviours: Evaluating the Evidence for a Causal Relationship

“…After tasting the foods, children were significantly more likely to state that the McDonalds branded foods tasted better than the matched plain-packaged pair (p<0.001) for both healthy and non-healthy foods. This study was replicated in Canadian children (n=65, 3-5 years) with similar findings, but noting highly colourful packaging, as typically found in non-healthy foods targeting children, was also influential [74].…”

“…This included studies that manipulated exposures to TV advertising [56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66], Internet advergames [67][68][69][70], product placement in movies [71,72], brand endorsers [28, 29, [73][74][75] and premium offers [76,77].…”

“…As reported above, the majority of these studies examined the acute, short-term effects of marketing on children's food behaviours (3-12 years). Many utilised between-subject study designs with children randomised to conditions (n = 63 -1302) [56,[60][61][62][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77]; the remainder within-subject, counterbalanced designs with randomisation to condition order with a washout-period of more than two weeks (n=42-281) [ As previously mentioned, conducting experimental studies in this domain over longer periods is methodologically challenging and expensive [39] and, as such, research of this nature is limited. Two studies, however, give insight to the longer effects of food advertising exposure.…”

Publicité alimentaire destinée aux enfants : examen de la portée de l’exposition, du pouvoir et des répercussions selon le contexte

“…La littérature portait sur l'exposition à la publicité alimentaire destinée aux enfants au Canada et sur le pouvoir ou les répercussions qu'elle a sur ceuxci en général 36,40 , à la télévision 34,4148 , sur Internet 4951 , dans les écoles publiques 52 , sur les emballages de produits dans les épiceries 35,37,5358 et dans les restaurants rapides 59,60 (tableau 3). La plupart des arti cles étaient fondés sur des études transver sales (n = 14) 34,37,4245,4956 .…”

“…TABLEAU 1 (suite) Types de réglementation en matière de publicité alimentaire destinée aux enfants au Canada 48,59,60 , une a utilisé des méthodes transversales 49 et cinq ont eu recours à des méthodes qualitatives 35,36,40,57,58 .…”