Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA; Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.
Department of Nutrition, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA; Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel, USA.
Appetite. 2024 Sep 1;200:107557. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2024.107557. Epub 2024 Jun 14.
Brand and licensed characters frequently appear on children's breakfast cereal boxes and are known to affect children's product perceptions, selection, and consumption. However, less is known about their impact on parents' perceptions of foods they purchase for their child. The present study assessed the impact of brand and licensed characters featured on three children's breakfast cereal packages on parents' intentions and perceptions in an online experiment. Parents of children aged 2-12 years (n = 1013) were randomized into one of two conditions: breakfast cereals containing brand and licensed characters or breakfast cereals without any characters. Within each condition, participants viewed three breakfast cereal brands in random order per their assigned condition and reported their purchase intentions, healthfulness perceptions, and perceptions of appeal to children using 5-point Likert scales. No significant differences in purchase intentions (p = 0.91), perceived healthfulness (p = 0.52) or perceived child appeal (p = 0.59) were observed between the experimental and control groups. However, exploratory moderation analyses revealed that educational attainment moderated the impact of experimental condition on purchase intentions (p for interaction = 0.002) such that participants with a bachelor's degree in the character condition reported 0.36 points lower purchase intentions compared to the control with no difference between conditions for those with an associate's degree/trade school or high school degree or less. This study did not find an impact of brand and licensed characters on children's breakfast cereals, suggesting that their primary appeal is directly to children. Parents with higher educational attainment may be skeptical of characters on cereal brands. Additional research on the impact of brand and licensed characters on other products, in real-world settings, is needed.
品牌和授权角色经常出现在儿童早餐麦片盒上，已知会影响儿童对产品的认知、选择和消费。然而，对于它们对父母为孩子购买食品的认知的影响知之甚少。本研究在一项在线实验中评估了三种儿童早餐麦片包装上的品牌和授权角色对父母意向和认知的影响。2-12 岁儿童的父母（n=1013）被随机分配到两种条件之一：含有品牌和授权角色的早餐麦片或不含任何角色的早餐麦片。在每种条件下，参与者按照其分配的条件随机查看三种早餐麦片品牌，并使用 5 分李克特量表报告他们的购买意向、健康感知和对儿童的吸引力感知。实验组和对照组在购买意向（p=0.91）、感知健康度（p=0.52）或感知对儿童的吸引力（p=0.59）方面没有显著差异。然而，探索性调节分析显示，教育程度调节了实验条件对购买意向的影响（交互作用 p=0.002），即具有学士学位的参与者在角色条件下的购买意向比对照条件低 0.36 分，而具有副学士学位/职业学校或高中或以下学历的参与者在两种条件之间没有差异。本研究没有发现品牌和授权角色对儿童早餐麦片的影响，这表明它们的主要吸引力是直接针对儿童的。教育程度较高的父母可能对麦片品牌上的角色持怀疑态度。需要在真实环境中对品牌和授权角色对其他产品的影响进行更多研究。
