Do children's food choices go with the crowd? Effects of majority and minority peer cues shown within an audiovisual cartoon on children's healthy food choice

Abstract

Rationale: Studies show that the presentation of healthy foods within media does not lead to healthier food choices in children. A persuasive strategy is needed. We investigated how healthy peer cues shown in an audiovisual cartoon influence children's food choice.

Method: In an experiment, we showed children a cartoon presenting no food (i.e., the control condition), one child eating raspberries (i.e., the minority condition), or all children eating raspberries (i.e., the majority condition). We measured children's majority awareness-that is, their awareness of peers' preference for raspberries-as a mediator variable. We assessed children's fruit choice as a dependent variable and tested the moderating role of food neophobia.

Results: Children in the majority condition did not show a higher majority awareness compared to the control condition. Compared to the control and majority conditions, however, the minority condition prompted children to conclude that most of their peers do not like raspberries, leading to a subsequent lower likelihood of choosing fruit. Children's levels of food neophobia did not moderate these results, but food neophobia moderated the direct effect of experimental conditions on food choice, independent of majority awareness. In particular, children with high levels of food neophobia refrained from choosing the healthy snack when the minority of peers ate raspberries in the cartoon.

Conclusions: This study has provided some indications into how healthy food presentations within an audiovisual stimulus can influence children's food choice. Prompting children's healthy eating behaviors by presenting healthy foods in media content is not as easy as prompting unhealthy food choices by presenting unhealthy foods. Children's natural preference for fruit is attenuated by peer cues shown in media when a peer is in a minority. Overall, content producers should be aware of the risks of minority peer cues.

Keywords: Children; Food choice; Food neophobia; Food placement; Peer cues.