Can Earth’s Mightiest Heroes Help Children be Physically Active? Exploring the Immersive Qualities of Les Mills’ and Marvel’s “Move Like the Avengers” Video

Abstract

Increasing children’s physical activity (PA) is a key public health concern. Recently there have been calls for more enjoyable PA interventions which focus on ensuring a positive affective response, yet this remains an under researched area. This study explored how using a narrative, characters, and music in a video-led PA session might influence the sense of immersion in the activity, and subsequently impact the affective response. One hundred and thirty-six participants (boys n= 65, girls n= 71) were recruited from both the United Kingdom (UK) (n=108) and outside the UK (n=28) with the majority of the sample (85%) being aged between 7-11 years old. Participants were required to complete the “Move Like the Avengers” PA video created by Les Mills and Marvel, and then complete a survey where they answered questions relating to their post activity affective responses, the use of a narrative with characters, the use of musical elements, and how immersed they felt when engaging. Positive average affective responses were found for children (valence mean score: 3.6 ±2.2, arousal mean score: 5.1 ±1.0) who engaged with the video. Further, structural equation modelling revealed the narrative with characters had little direct effect but did indirectly mediate the valence response through creating a sense of immersion (βstd = 0.122 [95%CI 0.013 to 0.231]; p = 0.012). Musical elements however had both a direct (βstd = 0.449 [95%CI 0.264 to 0.634]; p < 0.001), and an indirect (βstd = 0.122 [95%CI 0.014 to 0.229]; p = 0.011) effect upon valence. Arousal was not influenced by the narrative with characters whether directly or indirectly but musical elements though not having an indirect effect mediated by immersion, did have a direct effect upon arousal (βstd = 0.244 [95%CI 0.006 to 0.482]; p = 0.021). The results suggest that both narrative with characters, and the use of musical elements, led to a positive affective response and that the former effect may be mediated by their potential influence over immersion. Thus, these could be effective elements to include in a physical activity setting with children to support a positive affective response to the experience.

A “Physically Active Experience” – Setting the Stage for a New Approach to Engage Children in Physical Activity.

“…Although affective responses were similarly positive between conditions, parents qualitatively commented how the specific roles helped the game, and that they didn't think that their child realized they were exercising at all (Budzynski-Seymour et al, 2021a). Indeed, other recent research exploring the Marvel characters and narrative through Les Mills' "Move Like the Avengers" activity videos suggests that branded characters and a narrative influence the level of immersion during activity which mediates the affective response to that activity (Budzynski-Seymour et al, 2021b). This supports the notion that characters and narratives can help increase the immersion and meet the escapist component of staging an experience.…”

“…Some recent work from our group has shown mixed results regarding the incorporation of aspects such as branding, characters, narrative, and music where in one study their inclusion had little effect on affective response though qualitative feedback for them was positive (Budzynski-Seymour et al, DOI: 10.31236/osf.io/eufrd SportRxiv is free to access, but not to run. Please consider donating at www.storkinesiology.org/annual 2021a), yet in another there was evidence of their impact on immersion which mediated a positive affective response (Budzynski-Seymour et al, 2021b). It is unclear the extent to which different elements might be weighted in their influence on the overall perception of the physical activity experience or indeed on the individual Es that form it.…”

‘A Physically Active Experience’: Setting the Stage for a New Approach to Engage Children in Physical Activity Using Themed Entertainment Experiences

“…The final limitation of the ideas presented here around the staging of a physically active experience is that although there is evidence for the use of the elements individually, for example using music in a physical activity session, there is currently a lack of research around the combined use of these elements, for example using music and characters in a physical activity session. Some recent work from our group has shown mixed results regarding the incorporation of aspects such as branding, characters, narrative, and music where in one study their inclusion had little effect on affective response though qualitative feedback for them was positive [35] yet in another there was evidence of their impact on immersion which mediated a positive affective response [36]. It is unclear the extent to which different elements might be weighted in their influence on the overall perception of the physical activity experience or indeed on the individual Es that form it.…”

“…Although affective responses were similarly positive between conditions, parents qualitatively commented how the specific roles helped the game, and that they didn't think that their child realized they were exercising at all [35]. Indeed, other recent research exploring the Marvel characters and narrative through Les Mills' "Move Like the Avengers" activity videos suggests that branded characters and a narrative influences the level of immersion during the activity which mediates the affective response to that activity [36]. This supports the notion that characters and narratives can help increase the immersion and meet the escapist component of staging an experience.…”

“…Brands are often used for identification and understanding of the product/behaviour/item being promoted [33][34]. One example of a brand to incorporate could be, as has previously been incorporated in a physical activity setting, the Disney brand [35][36]. Disney is highly popular with children and Disney movies have been identified as important storytellers and are often one of the first story's children hear and use to learn about the world [37][38].…”