Branding and Children (Food Related)

Zeke

If It Says McDonald???s, Then It Must Be Good[/b]By NICHOLAS BAKALARPublished: August 14, 2007Hamburgers, french fries, chicken nuggets, and even milk and carrots all taste better to children if they think they came from McDonald???s, a small study suggests.In taste tests with 63 children ages 3 to 5, there was only a slight preference for the McDonald???s-branded hamburger over one wrapped in plain paper, not enough to be statistically significant. But for all the other foods, the McDonald???s brand made all the difference.Almost 77 percent, for example, thought that McDonald???s french fries served in a McDonald???s bag tasted better, compared with 13 percent who liked the fries in a plain white bag. Apparently carrots, too, taste better if they are served on paper with the McDonald???s name on it. More than 54 percent preferred them, compared with 23 percent each for those who liked the unbranded carrots and those who thought they tasted the same.[/b]Walt Riker, a McDonald???s vice president, said in an e-mail message that ???this is an important study and McDonald???s has been actively addressing it for quite some time.???In fact,??? he said, ???McDonald???s own ???branding??? of milk, apples, salads, and other fruits and vegetables has directly resulted in major increases in the purchases of these menu items by moms, families and children.???But Dr. Thomas N. Robinson, an associate professor of pediatrics at Stanford and the lead researcher on the study, was not impressed. ???The best response the fast-food industry could make to this information,??? he said, ???is to alter their menus to include a majority of healthful foods instead of encouraging consumption of high-fat, high-calorie foods.???Researchers ran taste tests on all five food items. First they served one-quarter of a McDonald???s hamburger wrapped in a McDonald???s wrapper, and another quarter in plain paper. Then they tried chicken nuggets in a McDonald???s bag with the red arches logo, and identical nuggets in a white bag. The third course was three french fries in a McDonald???s bag marked with the arches and the phrase ???We love to see you smile,??? and three fries in a matched white bag with no design.Then the children tasted milk in a McDonald???s cup with a straw, and milk in a plain cup with an identical straw. Finally, they were served two baby carrots placed on a McDonald???s french fries bag and two carrots on a plain white bag. For each test they were asked if one tasted better, or if there was no difference. The study appears in the August issue of The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.Fifty-nine percent of the children preferred McDonald???s chicken nuggets compared with 18 percent who preferred the plain product and 23 percent who saw no difference.Even milk tasted better in a McDonald???s cup, with more than 61 percent preferring it compared with 21 percent who liked the unbranded milk and 18 percent who thought they tasted the same.The researchers also found that the more television sets in the house, the more likely a child was to prefer McDonald???s branded food, and that three-quarters of the families had toys from McDonald???s in their homes.[/b]Although the study was not large, it had several significant strengths. McDonald???s did not sell carrots at the time, but all the other food was bought at McDonald???s, and the pairs of food were taken from the same individual serving. The samples were randomly placed, and the children were given no feedback about their selections. The wrappers had just enough information to let the children know that they came from McDonald???s ??? there were no other designs that could otherwise distract them.???We often hear that parents are the ones responsible for their kids??? nutrition,??? Dr. Robinson said, ???but in reality there are these other factors, created by a tremendous amount of advertising effort, that undermine parents??? ability to make healthy choices.???source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/14/health/nutrition/14nugg.htmlI believe this relates to Stanford professor Dr. Robert Zajonc's work on the mere exposure effect. Should corporations be taken to task for the impact of their advertising or is this the parents' responsibility?