A German study shows that food packaging has an impact on children’s choice, but also that it influences the perception of the taste of products.
“You shouldn’t judge the bag by the label,” says a proverb. Likewise, food should not be judged by its packaging. And yet, food marketing for snacks, sodas and confectionery is increasingly present on our supermarket shelves. Researchers at the University of Bonn, Germany, have shown that packaging food in a way that appeals to younger people could help children eat better.
This is in any case what emerges from a study, carried out between 2012 and 2014 and the results of which were published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology on June 15th.
“The food industry has a long history of marketing to increase the sale of its products to children,” explains Dr. Bernd Weber of the University of Bonn and head of this study. In comparison, very little knowledge is available on the application of such marketing effects to promote balanced foods to children. “
A placebo effect on taste
The researchers therefore studied the behavior of 179 girls and boys, between the ages of eight and ten, attending a primary school in Dortmund. They asked them to choose between three snacks made with yogurt, fruit and cereals. The only difference was in their packaging. The first was neutral, the second only had nutritional information, and the third featured colorful cartoon characters with an appealing product name. And in 56% of cases, it was the snacks with the colorful packaging that were popular with children.
While the packaging influences the choice of product, it can also change the perception of taste. 88% of children felt that the snack with the colorful logo with cartoon characters tasted better, while the “taste notes were objectively the same,” say the researchers. “It’s a classic marketing placebo effect. As in the case of a placebo drug, with effects attributed to certain products, while they are not justified by the ingredients, ”explains Dr. Weber.
For the researchers, this study therefore shows a clear link between marketing on food packaging and children’s nutrition. By making healthy products more attractive thanks to the packaging, children could undoubtedly eat better.
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