What Shapes Kids' Tastes
PALO ALTO, Calif. (KCBS) It turns out, cartoon characters do a really good job of selling kids junk food.
Researchers at Yale have found that kids liked snacks decorated with characters like "Sponge Bob" and "Dora the Explorer" better than the same exact packages of unadorned snacks.
"I don't think a lot of people would be surprised by this despite the fact that there's been very little direct research on it," said Dr. Thomas Robinson, the Director of Healthy Weight at Stanford.
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Robinson said they have done some previous work on the subject and he found that kids liked food better when they thought it came from McDonalds.
"Not just that they wanted it more, but it actually changed their perception of taste when tasting two foods side by side," he said.
And the bottom line for parents?
"To know that when their kids ask for certain foods, or want the food or the brand that has the cartoon character on it," said Robinson. "That that's not just because they like the taste of it better or they think they like the taste of it better. Cause that's really been manufactured."
Robinson said limits on marketing to children would make parents jobs much easier.
