Effects of Characters on Parents' Perceptions of Breakfast Cereals

University of North Carolina (UNC)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Obesity

Treatments: Other: No Character Control; Other: Experimental Characters

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05639335

21-3135

Details and patient eligibility

About

Purpose: To test how the presence of characters on breakfast cereals affects parents' perceptions and purchase intentions for their children.

Participants: ~1,000 parents of children ages 2-12 Procedures: After completing a screener and reviewing a consent form, participants will complete two unrelated experimental studies. Participants will then move on to this study, where they will be randomized into conditions and view three breakfast cereal box images, with or without characters. They will then be asked a series of questions about their children and their perceptions about the breakfast cereals

Full description

The use of characters, such as cartoons, is a prolific form of child-oriented marketing and may have particularly persuasive power in children. Parents and caregivers - who make most food purchases for children - are also persuaded by child-oriented marketing practices. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of characters on parents' perceptions and purchase intentions of a breakfast cereal product.

Setting: This is an online study using Qualtrics. Recruitment: Participants will be recruited by Qualtrics panel company, a survey research firm through which participants are recruited voluntarily.

Informed Consent: Participants will read a written consent document that includes information about the study's purpose, expectations, and possible risks and benefits. Participants will acknowledge that they have read and agreed to the terms by clicking forward.

Randomization: Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups: 1.) control (breakfast cereal boxes with no characters) or 2.) characters (breakfast cereal boxes with a brand and at least one licensed character). Participants will view three brands (Frosted Flakes, Apple Jacks, Froot Loops).

Assessment: Using an online platform (Qualtrics), participants will complete an eligibility screener prior to the first experiment. They will then complete two unrelated experimental studies before beginning the current study. Participants will then be randomized into a condition and shown an image of the three cereal brands in random order. After each brand exposure, participants will be asked to respond to a series of questions measuring the following constructs: purchase intentions, perceived healthfulness, and perceived child appeal. After viewing all three brands and answering the aforementioned questions, participants will be queried on their perceptions of their child's perceived food-fussiness. Demographic information, such as age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, and income will be gathered at the end of the study.

Enrollment: 1,017 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Age 18 or older
• Parent or guardian of at least one child between the ages of 2-12

Exclusion criteria

• <18 years old
• is not the parent or guardian of a child between the ages of 2-12

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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1,017 participants in 2 patient groups

No Character Control

Other group

Description:

Participants will view images of three breakfast cereals (Frosted Flakes, Apple Jacks, Froot Loops) containing no characters.

Treatment:

Other: No Character Control

Character

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will view images of three breakfast cereals (Frosted Flakes, Apple Jacks, Froot Loops) containing their respective brand characters (e.g., Tony the Tiger) and a licensed character recently featured on these cereal brands (e.g., Buzz Lightyear).

Treatment:

Other: Experimental Characters