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August 6, 2007Young Children's Taste Preferences may be Influenced by Fast-Food Branding |
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From Stanford University School of Medicine: Preschool children preferred the taste of foods and drinks in McDonald's packaging to the same foods and drinks in unbranded packaging, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. By age 2, children may already have beliefs about certain brands and 2- to -6-year-olds can recognize brands and associate them with products. The foods and beverages were: one-quarter of a McDonald's hamburger, a Chicken McNugget, McDonald's french fries, about three ounces of 1 percent fat milk (or apple juice for one child who was not allowed to drink milk) and two baby carrots. Preschoolers with more television sets in their homes and children who ate McDonald's food more often were more likely to prefer foods and drinks they thought were from McDonald's. "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. "Our findings also suggest a need for research on marketing in general, and branding in particular, as strategies to promote more healthful taste preferences and food and beverage choices in young children." "Future research might examine the effects of less recognizable brands or contrast different brands and packaging with variable levels of recognition and natural exposure," they conclude. Editor's Note: This study was supported in part by a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Generalist Physician Faculty Scholar Award (T.N.R) and support from the Department of Pediatrics and the Stanford Prevention Research Center, Stanford University School of Medicine.
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