McDonald’s: Children Like Foods Wrapped in Golden Arches Better

A recent study reveals that the $1 billion or so that McDonald’s spends annually on advertising in the U.S. pays off quite handsomely, particularly where 3- to 5-year-olds are concerned.

Indeed, children — especially those who are avid TV watchers — believe that food wrapped in McDonald’s packages containing those well-recognized "Golden Arches" tastes better than the exact same food in plain wrappers, according to a study from researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the Center for Healthy Weight at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital.

According to the study, which we learned about thanks to the prolific Steven Reinberg of HealthDay News, 63 pre-school children were given two samples of the exact same five foods. They tasted chicken nuggets, a hamburger and french fries from McDonald’s, as well as baby carrots and milk from a grocery store. Their foods were served either in McDonald’s wrappers or in plain paper.

The results, which appeared in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, not only showed that kids liked foods in McDonald’s packaging better, but their degree of preference actually correlated with the number of TV sets they had in their homes and how often they ate at McDonald’s.

"The study shows that even young children are swayed by brand preferences," points out a press release from Lucille Packard Chilren’s Hospital at Stanford. 

"Kids don’t just ask for food from McDonald’s," Thomas Robinson, M.D., MPH, lead author and associate professor of pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine in California, said in a prepared statement.

"They actually believe that the chicken nugget they think is from McDonald’s tastes better than an identical, unbranded nugget."

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

Of course, controversy has been brewing for some time over the fact that young children just don’t comprehend that advertising, product placement and co-branding with popular toys are created to get them to pick certain products. In other words, they haven’t a clue that they’re being manipulated to favor certain foods.

Let’s hope that this study continues to get more and more people on the bandwago to restrict marketing to innocent, easy-impressionable kids under 8 years old.In the meantime, parents, better watch out when your kids watch TV! After seeing ads, they may nag you more to buy certain sugary concoctions or fast-food fare.

By the way, the press release about the study gave some interesting historical perspective. First off, Dr. Robinson observed that marketing is more than just TV advertisements, and that it’s not restricted to McDonald’s.

"Parents don’t choose for their children to be exposed to this type of marketing," Dr. Robinson said. "Parents have a very difficult job. It may seem easier to give in to their child’s plea to go to McDonald’s than to give in to the many other hundreds of requests they get during a day."

The press release pointed out that in 2007, "both the Federal Trade Commission and the Kaiser Family Foundation released studies on the effect of advertising on children. They found that children between the ages of 2 and 11 are exposed to about 5,500 food advertisements every year. Although this is a decrease over past years, the studies also found that the advertising was significantly more concentrated in children’s television programming.

"The growing concern is not falling on deaf ears," the statement continued. "Last December, possibly in response to threatened regulations and lawsuits, McDonald’s and nine other top food companies announced the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative. Participants agree to devote at least half their advertising messages to promoting healthier choices for children."

Karen James contributed to this blog entry.