Judging Food By Its Cover
Does this scare the hell out of anyone else?
MONDAY, Aug. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Most 3- and 5-year-olds who taste-tested a variety of foods said they preferred the ones in the McDonald's wrapper -- even though the foods were exactly the same, a new study finds.The study suggests that, like adults, young children are highly influenced by branding, experts say.
"This study demonstrates simply and elegantly that advertising literally brainwashes young children into a baseless preference for certain food products," said Dr. David Katz, the director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.
"Children, it seems, literally do judge a food by its cover. And they prefer the cover they know," said Katz, who was not involved in the research.
2 comments:
I do think this study is eye-opening. But, call me a capitalist : ), I don't believe we are the slaves to advertising that the article suggests. It also states that more than half the children in the study had TVs in their rooms! Really, a three year old with their own TV? I think that is more indicative of the real problem. Its up to parents to raise independant thinking, discerning children and I think part of that is not allowing them unsupervised access to advertising tools like TV before they are old enough to think critically about it. They will encounter enough advertising outside of the realm of a parent's influence without having commercials piped right into their bedrooms.
Just my opinion!!
I have to agree with Mandy. I am a dedicated foodie, but I recently found myself in WalMart with my sugar leveling bottoming out and I went to the McD's inside. They now have a side salad, which I ordered with some trepidation, but when it arrived, I was very surprised to find NO ICEBERG-this was made from romaine and Mesclun!! And they will gladly let you have the Newman's Own dressing with it, not the gloppy stuff. And I only paid 99 cents for it. Parents have to be responsible for introducing their children to proper eating and then teaching them how to order properly if they're faced with a fast food restaurant being the only meal. And it will happen, because we can't keep our children in bubbles forever. If you teach them the right way at home, then turn them loose to practice the teaching outside, well, they will quickly go for the no-no's then come back to what they were taught.
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