Babies Think Food Tastes Better In Fast Food Wrapper And Getting Fatter

By: marvin Posted: August 15, 2007

A new study has found that babies and children are severely influenced by advertising. The study found conclusively that children favor the taste of food in McDonald's or other fast food restaurant wrapping as opposed to the foods and drinks in unbranded packaging.

"Kids don't just ask for food from McDonald's," said study co-author Thomas Robinson, director of the Center for Healthy Weight at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. "They actually believe that the chicken nugget they think is from McDonald's tastes better than an identical, unbranded nugget."

The Study

The study, performed by Robinson questioned 63 children between the ages of 3-5 years old asking them to sample hamburgers, chicken nuggets and French fries purchased from McDonald's and milk and baby carrots purchased from he grocery store.

The study divided each sample into two and wrapped half in McDonald's paper and the other half of the sample in similar packaging but without the fast food brand's logo.

Children resoundingly found the food in McDonald's packaging tastier than the sample food in plain wrapping. The percentages indicated 48.3 percent of children versus 36.7 percent found the hamburgers tastier, 76.7 percent versus 13.3 percent for French fries and 59 percent versus 18 percent for chicken nuggets.

"It's really an unfair marketplace out there for young children," Robinson said. "It's very clear they cannot understand the persuasive nature of advertising."

Television Advertising Effect

After asking the parents of the children surveyed to participate in a questionnaire, the researchers found a direct correlation between the answers provided the parents and the number of television sets in the home, in addition to the consistency with which the family ate at places such as McDonald’s.

"We found that kids with more TVs in their homes and those who eat at McDonald's more frequently were even more likely to prefer the food in the McDonald's wrapper," Robinson said. "This is a company that knows what they're doing. Nobody else spends as much to advertise their fast-food products to children."

McDonald's is frequently estimated to spend more than $1 billion dollars per year on United States advertising.

Ban Advertising To Young Children?

“These results add evidence to support recommendations to regulate or ban advertising or marketing of high-calorie, low-nutrient foods and beverages, or all marketing, that is directed to young children,” the authors write in the report published in the August issue of the journal Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.