Influence of Cartoon Characters on Children’s Food Preference Via Transfer of Functions

Results of previous studies that modeled the influence of transfer of functions over preference for brands showed that adults and children choose more frequently a container labeled with symbols equivalent to stimuli with positive valence when containers had the same food or drink in them. The present study was conducted to verify whether such preferences involved transfer both of positive and negative valences. Fourteen children formed three equivalence classes containing a liked cartoon character, a neutral picture, and a disliked character, respectively. The other class members were geometrical forms and arbitrary stimuli. Three preference tests followed class formation: children chose between two pieces of the same snack, differing by the label on the container—C1 (equivalent to the liked character), C2 (equivalent to the neutral picture), and C3 (equivalent to the disliked character). Choices in Tests 1, 2, and 3 were between, respectively, C1 and C3; C2 and C3; and C1 and C2. In Test 1, all children preferred the snack labeled with C1, and most children also preferred, in Test 3, the snack labeled with C1 over the one labeled with C2. It is surprising that in Test 2 there was more preference for the snack labeled with C3, equivalent to the disliked character. Results confirmed the preference for the brand equivalent to the liked character, but suggested that children may prefer brands equivalent to a cartoon character over neutral ones, even when the character is disliked.