Tricking the tastebuds: The influence of spokes-characters on children's assessment of taste

Many food products targeted to young consumers employ either trade characters (e.g. Ronald McDonald) or spokes-characters (e.g. SpongeBob SquarePants) to boost consumption. In addition, companies use product names that imply a sweet or sugary taste (e.g. Cookie Crisp). The purpose of this study was to determine how these marketing devices influence young children's subjective report of taste.

Using a randomized experimental design, 4 to 6 year old children were shown one of four fictional cereal boxes, and then given a taste of the cereal. Half of the children saw a box with popular film characters on the front, while the other half did not see these characters. Furthermore, one half of the children were given a cereal named ‘Sugar Bits', while the other half were given a cereal named ‘Healthy Bits'. After tasting the cereal, the children were asked to rate how much they liked or disliked the taste.

Our results revealed two significant main effects. Specifically, children in the character condition and those given the “healthy” cereal condition reported higher taste ratings than the children in the other conditions. We also found a significant interaction effect, as children in the no character/”sugar” name condition gave the lowest taste assessment of the cereal compared to the other three groups.

These results provide evidence that the usage of kid-friendly characters can have a powerful effect on children's assessments of consumer products. Furthermore, these findings have substantial implications for researchers and practitioners concerned with the influence of marketing on children's diets.