Cartoon Characters Influence What Kids Eat

Any parent who has ever gone to the grocery store with a young child knows the horrors of what happens when they see their favorite junk food. Their eyes grow wide, their bottom lip quivers and their sweet little voices scream out, "Please, Please, Please!" as if they would just DIE if you don’t let them put this one sugary snack in the cart.
But the next time your child begs and pleads for his or her favorite junk food, know this: Those cartoon characters that appear on snack packaging could be drawing them into a sugary marketing trap.
Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity conducted a study on 40 children ages 4 to 6. When researchers put the exact same food items into different packages, about 50 percent of the kids claimed that the snacks from packaging decorated with Dora the Explorer, Shrek and Scooby-Doo actually tasted better than snacks from bland or plain packaging.
Researchers also found that when given a choice, two-thirds of the kids preferred a snack with images of cartoon celebrities on the front.
Children recognize these characters as lovable, positive superstars from their favorite TV shows and movies. What James Dean was to cigarettes Shrek is now to gummies.
So what does this mean for your child? Scooby is more likely to be found on sugary junk food than on a bag of carrots, which could possibly be influencing your child’s food selection.
CNN.com reported that studies on the effects of marketing to children are few and far between. The American Psychological Association and other organizations have called for the elimination of all marketing of food products to children.

One franchise recognized the powerful consequences of marketing to kids and took action to fix it.
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In 2005, rumors surfaced that the popular children’s TV show Sesame Street was going to turn one of its most beloved Muppet characters, Cookie Monster, into Veggie Monster. PBS and show producers claimed they understood how their programming could influence children. And with child obesity becoming an epidemic, they decided to make Cookie Monster a healthier role model.
Although Cookie Monster was allowed to keep his namesake in the end, he began to incorporate fruits and vegetables into his diet all to the tune of his new song, "A Cookie is a Sometime Food."
According to Federal Trade Commission data cited in the study, U.S. food and beverage companies spend more than $1.6 billion a year to grab children's attention.
This article is taken from- http://news.discovery.com/human/cartoon-characters-influence-what-kids-eat.html