Kids Pick Healthy Food If It Comes with Right Toy
A teaspoon of sugar may help the medicine go down, but if you want kids to eat brussels sprouts, give them a toy.
A new study by a researcher at the University of Oregon and a colleague in Wisconsin suggests that kids can be influenced to choose a healthy meal if it comes with a toy. The effect is strongest when the toy is part of a collection and the child doesn't have it yet.
What's more, the children believe they'll actually like the healthy meal more than junk food if the right toy is offered as an incentive.
And researchers say the more they're rewarded for eating the healthy food, the more they'll come to prefer it over unhealthy food.
The study by UO marketing professor T. Bettina Cornwell and developmental psychologist Anna McAllister at the University of Wisconsin shows that the same tactics that many fast-food restaurants use to draw children to their meals also can be used to get kids to eat food that is better for them.
The research is being published in the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing.
"The very important point is that we can show that collectible toys influence food perceptions and the perception of taste (in young children)," Cornwell said.
"Then, the applied point is we can use that perception to sell healthy food or to get children to taste and try healthy food."
The two-part study involved two groups of children ages 3 to 5. Both parts involved children choosing among a variety of meals that included no toy, a non-collectible toy or a collectible toy in various combinations.
The meal combinations included a number of foods high in sugar, salt and fat that resembled typical offerings seen at food courts, fast-food restaurants and drive-throughs as well as healthier meals including items such as soup, vegetables and milk.
The study found that children would choose the meal that included the collectible toy, even if it meant picking soup and vegetables over pizza and french fries. …
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