Children’s pester power, packaging and unhealthy food preference

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to understand the extent to which packaging influences Brazilian parents' purchasing willingness based on children's food preferences for unhealthy food products. Design/methodology/approach Parents, with children up to 12 years old, answered questions about the positive influence of the packaging on the children, the preferences of the children in their willingness to buy and the propensity to give in to the desires of the children. Data analysis was performed with the statistical software SPSS and Stata used for structural equations modeling. Findings The results back the outlined hypotheses and point out that the characteristics of the packaging positively influence children's preferences as well as parents’ who are prone to give in to such influences. In some relationships, there was a minute moderating effect of social desirability and social class. Research limitations/implications The research presents as a limitation the nature of the sample, parents, to the extent that the influences of the packages on the children were analyzed from their perspectives. Practical implications Findings from the research can be used to think about preventive public policies to protect children as highly vulnerable subjects. Another practical implication is that the same marketing strategies that are used for unhealthy foods can also be used for healthy foods, improving their linkage to the children once there are evidences that packaging can positively influence their preferences. Originality/value The originality of this study is to focus on children's food preferences for unhealthy products and in parents with children up to 12 years old, which is not often investigated by researchers.

The Other Pandemic: A Conceptual Framework and Future Research Directions of Junk Food Marketing to Children and Childhood Obesity

“…Interestingly, they do not perceive them as overweight or obese even though their children's weight, body mass index might and overall physical appearance may suggest this is the case. Instead, external influences such as external diagnostic (e.g., doctor) or their child's limited physical activity will alarm parents/tutors, while they find it emotionally challenging to refuse food to a hungry child (Eckstein et al 2006;He and Evans 2007;Jain et al 2001) or difficult to resist the "pester power" (Christino et al 2019;Elliott 2011;Marshall, O'Donohoe and Kline 2007;McDermott et al 2006). Such emotional and perceptual filtering by tutors complicates the containment of the overweight/obesity pandemic.…”

“…The Prescriber Child (B3). Knowing the ambivalent role of tutors, marketers tend to use children to drag tutors towards giving into junk food while downplaying its adverse effects, what past research unanimously called the "pester effect" or "nag factor" (Christino et al 2019;Dougherty 2014;Elliott 2011;Lawlor and Prothero 2011;Marshall, O'Donohoe and Kline 2007;McDermott et al 2006). Children may send their tutors a formal request to purchase junk food directly or take a product by themselves without asking for permission.…”

“…To influence parents, marketers rely on the "pester power" or "nag factor," which consists in creating a conflict between a child wishing to buy a product (because of his often erroneous perception of the product, resulting from micromarketing force) and their tutor(s) who refuse to do so (counter-force to micromarketing), which results in harassment and discontent on the part of the child, until the tutor(s) give(s) in (Dougherty 2014;Lawlor and Prothero 2011). Marketing of junk food targeting children is a significant contributor to "pester power" by making them believe that they have a right to consume despite their young age (Christino et al 2019;Marshall, O'Donohoe and Kline 2007;McDermott et al 2006) and communication strategies make those products too attractive to be ignored by children in points of sale. Therefore, children indirectly buy these products using their tutors as genuine buyers through pester power if needed.…”

The Mobility of Income-related Inequality in Food Preferences Among Chinese Adults: a Population-based Longitudinal Study

“…Although several studies have published using one-wave cross-sectional survey with focusing on food preference in children or adolescents, studies on food preference of adults are less reported [5][6][7][8]. As children are usually taken care of by their parents, their dietary intake often depends on the family context and their food knowledge.…”

The Determinants of Purchasing Decisions: The Case of Snack Products

“…More specifically, this study asks whether consumers still buy when the packaging designs do not use flagrant colors and attractive typography and whether color differences in food packagings lead to different individual perceptions. Color plays a big role to attract the children (Zhang, 2013).Children are memorized the colors, shapes, size and illustrations on the packaging (Christino, Cardozo, Silva, & Mazzini, 2019). Color can be used to attract customers on an emotional level (Krishna, Cian, & Aydinoglu, 2016).As reported by Liputan6, Betina Piqueras-Fiszmanfrom the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain, and Charles Spence from the University of Oxford, the UK, invited 57 volunteers to taste hot chocolate served in plastic glasses in various colors, such as red, orange, white, and beige with the white color inside the glasses.…”