麻豆影院

Grimace鈥擬cDonald鈥檚 restaurant鈥檚 rotund, milkshake-loving creation鈥攁nd the Kool-Aid Man may not look like real creatures, but the two characters can have a very real effect on kids, a CU 麻豆影院 study found.

Children exposed to egg-shaped cartoon characters are more likely to eat more and to choose unhealthy food options, such as cookies and candy, than those who don鈥檛 see overweight cartoon characters. 鈥淭hey have a tendency to eat almost twice as much indulgent food as kids who are exposed to perceived healthier looking cartoon characters or no characters at all,鈥� says Margaret C. Campbell, marketing professor at the Leeds School of Business and lead author of the study.

The research pioneers the examination of kids鈥� awareness of body weight and stereotyping, particularly of cartoon characters. 鈥淪urprisingly, children apply typically human standards to cartoon creatures鈥攃reatures for which there isn鈥檛 a real baseline,鈥� says Campbell.