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I saw a study recently on cereal box marketing called Eyes in the Aisles: Why Is Cap’n Crunch Looking Down at My Child? This reminded me of the topic in Chapter 10 that discussed children as decision makers.
Basically, researchers studied 65 different kinds of cereal in 10 different grocery stores. Of the 86 characters, 57 were marketed to children, and those were the ones that gazed downward to lock eyes on kids. The researchers said this marketing strategy of having cartoon characters lock eyes with children may influence their connection with a brand, fostering loyalty and inspiring their interest in the products.
But wait! This "trick" doesn't only apply to children! They tried a similar experiment on college students as well. They let them choose between two different boxes of Trix. One had the rabbit staring directly at them and the other had the rabbit gazing down. They found the students had a significantly better connection with the brand when there was eye contact involved.
You have been warned. Now if they could only give spinach eyes to stare at me while I shop.....
This is really interesting! I just had a conversation with my roommate last night about how every little thing on packaging is strategically positioned and is there for a reason. The tactics marketing experts come up with to get to children is really mind-boggling. How do you try to get your kids excited about eating healthy? Without the help of spinach staring at them..:)
ReplyDeleteHa! That is a battle I am still fighting. My kids are excited about gardening this year. My daughter was told in school that Native Americans would leave fish to rot on the seeds of planted corn to help them grow. She is convinced we need to try this. I have a feeling my neighbors may not be as pleased about that.....
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