When it comes to making kids enjoy the taste of their cereal, no one can do it quite like Happy Feet penguins can.
According to a study conducted by Annenberg School for Communication doctoral students Matthew Lapierre and Sarah Vaala, having popular media characters on cereal packaging can directly influence the way children perceive the taste of the cereal.
The study, which was published in the March issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, involved 80 children between the ages of four and six.
Children were given the same cereal from realistic-looking cereal boxes — either labeled “Healthy Bits” or “Sugar Bits” — some with the penguins and some penguin-free.
The Happy Feet characters, who appealed to both genders and all ages, were chosen as the characters for the study from a group of cartoons including characters from children’s television show The Fairly Oddparents and video game characters Mario and Princess Peach.
Stationed in The Gallery mall at Market and Ninth streets during a two-day span in December of 2007, Lapierre and Vaala recruited mall-going children as participants.
“We had a child-friendly scale with smiley faces all the way up to frowny faces,” such that young children could describe their reactions more easily, Lapierre said.
The results showed that children who were given cereal from the box decorated with Happy Feet penguins reported to have enjoyed their cereal more than those who ate the same cereal from a box with no characters.
In the study’s second result — which turned out to be the “opposite” of their expectations — children who ate from the cereal box labeled “Healthy Bits” reported liking it more than those who ate from the “Sugar Bits” box.
The results of their research have been discussed recently on a national level. According to Vaala, this national exposure has been one of the most rewarding things about their study.
They have also been contacted by media from as far away as Australia, India and Ireland to discuss their study.
“Especially as a grad student, you rarely see your research actually hit the public debate,” Vaala added.
“I liked pretty cereal boxes a lot” as a child, College junior Monika Knapp said.
When it came to enjoying cereal, “the taste was a minor component, but it was mainly the box … and the crunchiness,” Knapp said.
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