Lovin' it: McBranding hooks preschoolers, study finds
Posted by Anonymous on Aug 07, 2007 · Member since Dec 1969 · 11789 posts
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070806/hl_nm/kids_fastfood_dc
A few quotes from the article:
Preschoolers preferred the taste of burgers and fries when they came in McDonald's wrappers over the same food in plain wrapping, U.S. researchers said, suggesting fast-food marketing reaches the very young.
A McDonald's Corp. spokesman said the company has been working to address the need for responsible marketing to kids and providing healthy food choices.
Responsible marketing?! Directed at kids?!?!?!? HEALTHY FOOD CHOICES?! UGH!
Yeah....McDonald's is a really really responsible company!....from the way they market...to the way they keep factory farms in business.....responsible......the "perfect" word for what McDonald's is not! :(
This is not news, really...back in the 60's my brother would reject a homemade burger on a storebought burger bun, even tho my mother's burgers were twice the size of what you could get at any chain outlet, and he could have up to 4 per meal! But if we went to one of the dreaded chains, he would want at least 2...at a buck a pop in those days for a Big Mac (is it a coincidence that the initials are BM? ;D) it wasn't cheap!
The same went for Coke out of a bottle vs. Coke out of a cardboard cup full of chipped ice, and McD's fries in a paper baglet vs. my mother's delicious homefries.
Responsible marketing?! Directed at kids?!?!?!?
Isn't that, like, an oxymoron, or something?
You beat me to posting this Dave!
I can't help but wonder what the veg kids of veg parents on this board would have said if they participated in the study...
My son's never had McDonald's... he doesn't view McD's commercials, would he have choosen the McFood as best?? I think it's be interesting to see... I don't doubt he is susceptible to it!
I'm just wondering if my keeping him from seeing the commercials, not playing with toys that are marked with golden arches, etc. is working or if he is going to be swindled by a package.
Or would there maybe not be that association with golden arches and fun times... so maybe it would help?
Also, I think it's be interesting to see if they did the experiment again and instead of plain label vs. McD's label if they did McD's vs. superman label ...you know?
Heh. I guess my parents were right when they didn't allow me to watch TV. I was able to start watching TV in junior high. And then I could only pick ONE program per week. So, I watched, basically, an hour of TV per week. Strict, yes. But, I also completely avoided the marketing stuff and the unhealthy junk. I never even knew what junk food was until I started going over for sleepovers to my friend's houses. And, by then, I was so used to the healthy stuff that I refused the junk as it didn't taste good.
I'm going to do the exact same thing with my kids. No TV in the house. I think too many kids miss out on their childhoods, sitting in front of the TV.
Whenever people talk about marketing to children, and the responsibilities of the company ... I honestly think it all boils down to the parents. Someone is taking these kids to McDonald's. Someone is allowing these children to watch TV and commercials. Someone is buying the junkfood. It sure as heck ain't the kids because they can neither drive or earn money.
Nowadays, with TIVO, a kid doesn't need to ever even know what a commercial is! If restricting all TV seems too strict, then just record the program, let the kid watch it without commercials. Simple.
Heh. I guess my parents were right when they didn't allow me to watch TV. I was able to start watching TV in junior high. And then I could only pick ONE program per week. So, I watched, basically, an hour of TV per week. Strict, yes. But, I also completely avoided the marketing stuff and the unhealthy junk. I never even knew what junk food was until I started going over for sleepovers to my friend's houses. And, by then, I was so used to the healthy stuff that I refused the junk as it didn't taste good.
I'm going to do the exact same thing with my kids. No TV in the house. I think too many kids miss out on their childhoods, sitting in front of the TV.
Whenever people talk about marketing to children, and the responsibilities of the company ... I honestly think it all boils down to the parents. Someone is taking these kids to McDonald's. Someone is allowing these children to watch TV and commercials. Someone is buying the junkfood. It sure as heck ain't the kids because they can neither drive or earn money.
Nowadays, with TIVO, a kid doesn't need to ever even know what a commercial is! If restricting all TV seems too strict, then just record the program, let the kid watch it without commercials. Simple.
My rents were so anti TV too...well it was a half hour show per kid every few days...there were four of us kids but it only ended up being like few hours a week...and we never had cable. I'm not going to have TY in my home...maybe I will have to restrict Computer/net time... ???
I'm going to do the exact same thing with my kids. No TV in the house. I think too many kids miss out on their childhoods, sitting in front of the TV.
Yeah TV's bad enough, I worry about other influences... when we go out he still sees quite enough McD's adverts, I don't need to fight it in my home as well!
I do have to say though that we do have TV sets, we just don't have commercial TV, only DVDs. And I do find a well chosen DVD to be beneficial and entertaining. He loves dancing to "Lazy Town" and counting with "Dora" (the kid's 2 and he can count to 25!!)... er... He can also say, "God Dammit!" from watching, "Back to the Future" but I really don't have a problem with that, i'll ignore it and he'll stop. Oh and I finally figured out where he knows the word "Cheese" from and what cheese looks like... that's Wallace and Gromit! ::) So even though I screen every DVD that he watches (and usually watch with him) there are some of those things that get by me! LOL But again I'm not overly concerned with that, those are things that I am aware of and can monitor easily.
Now for my 'lecture'... ::) ;D
If you don't want TV when you have kids I suggest getting rid of it now before you have them! The same marketing things apply to us, though we may not be as vulnerable as kids, we still are somewhat!
If I go to the doctor's office and see CNN in the waiting room my heart races just from the voices and intonation of the reporters and they aren't telling me anything that I didn't read on google news that morning!
Also, it is amazing what you get done with no TV! Seriously!
If someone who's reading this wants to cut back on TV just take TVs out of bedrooms, (you'll have more sex!)
TV doesn't offer me anything that I can't get elsewhere, I read the news online and for entertainment I can download shows from iTunes and watch things that I choose to
... but have it all available at your fingertips is crazy.
It's like having a pile of junk food in your house on you kitchen table some of it may be vegan, some not... why riffle through the crap? It leads to that chance that you may accidentally eat it, or eat it on purpose, or your kids might eat it. See?? Keeping junk like that in the house to tempt you is ridiculous, why do it with TV?
Argg!!! I abhor McD's. Them and the d@mn milk people are all over my kids' school! They have a huge poster of Shrek with a milk mustache...and my kids are all like "Look mommy! Milk!"