Choosing Imagery in Advertising Healthy Food to Children

Food advertising is widely believed to influence children’s food preferences, although the evidence is not conclusive. This research examined the effects of visual communication on children’s healthy food choices. The children in the study liked foods displayed as cartoons the most, not the drawn foods, but they wanted to consume the foods represented by photos. To motivate healthy-food consumption by children, therefore, it may be more effective to use photos rather than cartoons or other animations. Healthy-food advertisements using a mix of visualizations may maximize the attention to and adoption of healthy food marketed to children

The children in the study liked foods displayed as cartoons the most, not the drawn foods, but they wanted to consume the foods represented by photos. To motivate healthy-food consumption by children, therefore, it may be more effective to use photos rather than cartoons or other animations