Using Brand Characters to Promote Young Children's Liking of and Purchase Requests for Fruit
- 5 November 2010
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Health Communication
- Vol. 16 (1) , 79-89
Abstract
The aim of this experiment was to investigate whether brand characters can enhance children's liking of and purchase request intent for fruit compared to candy. The authors assigned 216 preschool students between the ages of 4 and 6 years to 9 experimental conditions in which they were presented with a healthy snack (chopped bananas) and an unhealthy snack (banana candy). The packages of these snacks portrayed a familiar character (i.e., Dora from Dora the Explorer or SpongeBob from SpongeBob SquarePants), an unfamiliar character, or no character (control group). The authors’ results showed that brand characters can increase children's liking of and purchase request intent for fruit up to a level similar to candy. However, the effects on liking and purchase request intent did not differ between familiar and unfamiliar characters. These results may be helpful for future marketing campaigns to promote children's consumption of healthy foods.Keywords
This publication has 26 references indexed in Scilit:
- Associations between children's television advertising exposure and their food consumption patterns: A household diary–survey studyAppetite, 2008
- Food Advertising and Obesity Prevention: What Role for the European Union?Journal of Consumer Policy, 2008
- Observing Purchase-Related Parent-Child Communication in Retail Environments: A Developmental and Socialization PerspectiveHuman Communication Research, 2008
- The extent and nature of food promotion directed to children in Australian supermarketsHealth Promotion International, 2006
- Observations of Parent-Child Co-Shoppers in Supermarkets: Children’s Involvement in Food Selections, Parental Yielding, and Refusal StrategiesJournal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 2006
- Children’s visual memory of packagingJournal of Consumer Marketing, 2003
- Preschoolers’ Food Product Choices at a Simulated Point of Purchase and Mothers’ Consumer PracticesJournal of Nutrition Education, 2000
- The Relationship between Cartoon Trade Character Recognition and Attitude toward Product Category in Young ChildrenJournal of Marketing, 1995
- Cognitively and perceptually based judgments in children's brand discriminations and preferencesJournal of Business and Psychology, 1989
- How and When do Brand Perceptions and Preferences First Form? A Cognitive Developmental InvestigationJournal of Consumer Research, 1986