There are many cartoon characters, whether on TV, in movies, in books or elsewhere, who appear to be rather rotund (obviously Homer Simpson pictured above isn’t really for young kids). But even though they are just cartoons, new research suggests that seeing depictions of overweight or larger characters can actually lead kids to eat more than what would be considered a healthy portion.
In a study published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, the researchers showed 60 eighth graders a slimmer, Gumby-type character, and others were shown what would be considered a fat version of the character. They then asked them to comment. A control group was just shown an image of a coffee cup instead. Following the comment portion, they were offered Starburst candies and Hershey’s Kisses.
As The New York Times reported:
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Children who had seen the rotund cartoon character helped themselves to more than double the number of candies as children shown the lean character, taking 3.8 candies on average, compared with 1.7 taken by children shown the lean bean character. (Children in a comparison group shown an image of a coffee mug took 1.5 candies on average.)
In a separate but similar experiment, one that inevitably puts into question the effect puppets have as well (i.e. Cookie Monster), 167 elementary school children were asked about their thoughts on healthy eating and nutrition and provided a cookie taste test. The ones who were asked about healthy habits before the taste test ate fewer cookies than those who were surveyed after being offered the cookies.
Margaret C. Campbell, a professor of marketing at Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the first author of the study, pointed to the research as proof that media and TV have a clear affect on eating habits for children. Chances are, the same would be true for adults.
“This is one reason you don’t want the TV on when your kids are eating,” she told The Times. “There are things on television that are influencing children’s choices.”
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This research could imply that parents should just be more careful about the overlap of TV time and meal time, but also an indication that those creating these cartoon characters might want to be more mindful of what kind of images they are projecting directly toward kids. There seems to be a delicate balance between keeping positive influence in mind while also not discriminating (even in cartoons) by making characters one particular shape and size.
Photo: Flickr user Philippe Martin