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The smart people at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University just delivered a brand-spankin’ new study that shows a correlation between licensed cartoon characters and kids’ affinity for snacks.
A motley crew of forty munchkins between the ages of four and six was subjected to the maniacal machinations of the scientists, who tested whether appealing to their Saturday morning cartoon senses affected their food choices.
The rugrats were all given the same items to sample: graham crackers, gummy fruit snacks and that perennial favorite, carrots. The snacks came in two packages: one that was blank, and one with the kid’s favorite cartoons on the packaging.
Guess which one won out?
The majority of the pint-sized snackers thought that food tasted better when presented in a box with a poorly drawn character created by an overseas artist working in a sweatshop rather than in a plain cardboard box. (One bit of good news: carrots rated poorly in both packages, making it officially the most hated vegetable on the planet.)
With all the data now being processed like the sugar snacks in the kids’ colons, the study’s conclusions suggest that junk food with licensed characters should be restricted so that the little ones don’t become big ones.
Just leave Porky Pig and bacon out of this…
