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Thomas N Robinson of the Stanford University School of Medicine in California, and colleagues carried out the study where 63 preschool children aged between 3 and 5 tasted 5 pairs of packages of the same McDonald's food and drinks. One of the pair in each case bore the McDonald's brand, while the other was unbranded, in plain packages.
Altogether the children performed over 300 tasting comparisons.
The food that the children tasted was: a quarter of a McDonald's hamburger, a Chicken McNugget, some McDonald's french fries, and two baby carrots.
The drink they tasted was about three ounces of 1 per cent fat milk, or apple juice in the case of one participant who was not allowed milk.
The parents then filled out a questionnaire about their children's age, race and ethnicity, and how familiar they were with McDonald's food and toys and also about their television viewing habits and preferences.
The results showed that:
On average, the children preferred the taste of the food and drink in the McDonald's packaging over the identical products in unmarked packaging.
The result for hamburgers was 48.3 per cent vs. 36.7 per cent.
For chicken nuggets the result was 59 per cent vs. 18 per cent.
For baby carrots the result was 54.1 per cent vs. 23 per cent.
For french fries the result was 76.7 per cent vs. 13.3 per cent.
For milk or apple juice the result was 61.3 per cent vs. 21 per cent.
Futher analysis showed that 4 out of 5 times, children preferred the taste of food and drink that they thought was from McDonald's.
Preschool children who had more TV sets in their homes, and children who ate McDonald's foods more frequently were also more likely to prefer McDonald's branded food and drink to the identical unbranded items.
The authors suggested this study strengthened the justification for tighter regulation or banning of advertising and marketing of high calorie, low nutrient food and drink, if not of all marketing that is aimed at young children.
"Future research might examine the effects of less recognizable brands or contrast different brands and packaging with variable levels of recognition and natural exposure," they wrote.
They also suggested more studies were needed on how marketing and branding could be used to promote healthy eating in young children, and that food companies that heavily target youngsters could help reduce the growing problem of childhood obesity by offering healthier alternatives.
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It's always 'blame the dealers' ... its never the addicts fault
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It's always 'blame the dealers' ... its never the addicts fault
This is true – child obesity is a 2 way street.
---- Sorry if this is diverting from the subject -----
With that being said, food advertising (junk food) is geared way too much towards the younger population. I wrote a white paper on this about 2 years ago. Multimedia is (and can be) very scary stuff!! This is partially the issue with Child obscenity.
It's always 'blame the dealers' ... its never the addicts fault
Well, I'm not actually blaming the kids for this, sorry if it sounds that way.
This is more of specifically marketing of 'poor' products to kids, to the point that kids percieve a value in it, beyond it's taste/quality.
It is obviously the parents problem for "allowing" the kids to be fat. Parents shouldn't choose fast food (or even high fat food), but when a product is directed directly to the child, and makes the child seek out those products... It is the same reason that cigarettes do not have TV commercials in the US
However, if a slick marketing campaign can make broccoli "taste" better and you choose to provide packets of congealed lard instead...
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ALso, what were the exact questions: "Which did your kids like better?"
Or was there an option that they tasted the same?
Or was it which the children prefered (with no regard for taste)?
Alcohol and tobacco advertising is regulated because they are bad for you (if used in excess). Why not regulate fast food advertising also? Surely you must agree that fast food is also bad for you if eaten in excess???? Or do we want the government regulating yet another facet of our life. Oops, this is probably better posted in the P&R Forum ...
It's not just the marketing - it's lack of parenting skills as much as anything else. The kids don't do what the parents say, they do what the parents DO. If the parent is 200 pounds overweight and waddling around (we know some of these) then the kids will follow suit.
The vast majority of these kinds of problems are learned behavior. Obesity is primarily a self-control issue. McDonalds and the like are simply catering to what the population wants.
You don't have to "biggie" that order. No one is holding a knife to your throat.
I think the primary issue here is the effect of the marketing and brand recognition.
they put the same product in different wrappers and the kids tended to choose the McWrapped products as tasting better.
So the conclusion is that the marketing was having an effect on their taste, i.e. making them prefer one over the other, when both were the same product.
Therefore, the kids behavior was "controlled" and were guided into wanting/liking a product that isn't good for anyone.
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I agree w/ Code Bubba...parents teach habits & I know families where the kids dictate everything. It's very sad. My kids always get two choices for dinner...take it or leave it!
clear education, on the delineation of healthy and unhealthy, and a lack of complacency on the part of the parents, might help? Have to ask do the parents have the skills to work out what's good and bad nutritionally?
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