Cartoons = Taste?

  
An interesting story I came across on USAToday reported that a study found children to believe that foods taste better if they come in packaging displaying cartoon characters.

Children were asked to look at four different boxes of a "new" cereal: one box of "Healthy Bits" with cartoon penguins on the front, one box of "Healthy Bits" without cartoon characters, one box of "Sugar Bits" with cartoon penguins, and one box of "Sugar Bits" without cartoon characters.  Children only sampled from one box individually, but all of the participating children actually were provided the same cereal to taste.  The results found children who ate "Healthy Bits" cereal with a cartoon penguin on the box to rate the cereal best, and children who ate "Sugar Bits" cereal without any cartoon characters gave the lowest ratings.

As a former marketing major who learned about the importance of "packaging" in product promotions, I thought these were interesting findings that may make us think twice about how we purchase food items, or perhaps more specifically, how we purchase food items for children.  At the same time, I don't recall preferring Trix, Lucky Charms, or Fruity Pebbles just because they had cartoons on the box.  As I recall, many of my favorite cereals (Life, Frosted Mini Wheats, Wheaties, Apple Jacks) didn't have cartoon characters on the box at all!

To read the article, click here.