Cereal characters prove influential.

Cereal characters prove influential.

 

The presence of a popular-media character on a cereal box can directly affect a child's taste preference, according to a report in the March issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. In the study, 80 children aged 4-6 rated the flavor of a cereal going by the name "Healthy Bits" or "Sugar Bits" in the experiment. On average, children preferred cereal from a box showing baby penguins from the movie "Happy Feet" versus the same cereal from a character-free box. Children also preferred cereal labeled Healthy Bits versus Sugar Bits, but the characters were a more powerful influence on the children's preferences.