How does the presence of licensed characters on a box of sugared cereal influence children’s subjective report of taste?
A study of 80 4-6-year olds conducted at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania invited the children to taste a “new cereal” presented with and without characters, and under two different names:
Sugar Bits and Healthy Bits. According to the researchers, the presence of a character made the children like the Sugar Bits cereal more, but not the Healthy Bits cereal. Overall, they liked Healthy Bits more than the Sugar Bits — and equally so with and without characters.
The findings were consistent regardless of parents’ or guardians’ educational levels, the degree of media use in the household, or age. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the survey is that the kids liked the Healthy Bits name more than the name Sugar Bits, whether characters are present or not. [Food]
Source: “Influence of Licensed Spokescharacters and Health Cues on Children’s Ratings of Cereal Taste,” Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, March 2011, Matthew Lapierre, Author, mlapierre@asc.upenn.edu.
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