Cartoon Characters Neutralize Healthful Cereal Messages

It probably comes as no surprise to most parents that kids prefer the taste of cereals marketed with popular cartoon characters. But a new study suggests that a box sporting Shrek or Dora the Explorer may also make children forget their reservations about unhealthful foods.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School of Communication gave 80 kids (ages 4-6) an unfamiliar looking cereal from a box labeled either "Healthy Bits" or "Sugar Bits." Half the boxes were decorated with cartoon penguins; the other half weren't. After seeing the box and tasting the cereal, the kids rated the cereals on a scale of 1 to 5 smiley faces. To the researchers' surprise, the kids universally liked the Healthy Bits. Penguin or not, it earned about 4.5 smileys. Even more surprising, they rated the cereal labeled Sugar Bits significantly lower — less than 3 smileys — when it came from an undecorated box. The results appear in the March issue of the journal Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.