ARTICLE

Effects of Fast Food Branding

on Young Children’s Taste Preferences
Thomas N. Robinson, MD, MPH; Dina L. G. Borzekowski, EdD;
Donna M. Matheson, PhD; Helena C. Kraemer, PhD

Objective: To examine the effects of cumulative, real- Results: The mean±SD total taste preference score across
world marketing and brand exposures on young chil- all food comparisons was 0.37±0.45 (median, 0.20; in-
dren by testing the influence of branding from a heavily terquartile range, 0.00-0.80) and significantly greater than
marketed source on taste preferences. zero (P⬍.001), indicating that children preferred the tastes
of foods and drinks if they thought they were from
Design: Experimental study. Children tasted 5 pairs of McDonald’s. Moderator analysis found significantly greater
identical foods and beverages in packaging from effects of branding among children with more televi-
McDonald’s and matched but unbranded packaging and sion sets in their homes and children who ate food from
were asked to indicate if they tasted the same or if one McDonald’s more often.
tasted better.
Conclusion: Branding of foods and beverages influ-
Setting: Preschools for low-income children.
ences young children’s taste perceptions. The findings
are consistent with recommendations to regulate mar-
Participants: Sixty-three children (mean ± SD age,
keting to young children and also suggest that branding
4.6±0.5 years; range, 3.5-5.4 years).
may be a useful strategy for improving young children’s
Main Exposure: Branding of fast foods. eating behaviors.

Outcome Measures: A summary total taste prefer- Trial Registration: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier:
ence score (ranging from −1 for the unbranded samples NCT00185536.
to 0 for no preference and ⫹1 for McDonald’s branded
samples) was used to test the null hypothesis that chil-
dren would express no preference. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2007;161(8):792-797

T
HE GLOBAL CHILDHOOD OBE- liefs about specific brands,4 and 2- to
sity epidemic is focusing at- 6-year-olds can recognize familiar brand
tention on the effects of names, packaging, logos, and characters
food and beverage market- and associate them with products,5-8 es-
ing.1,2 A recent report pub- pecially if the brands use salient features
lished by the World Health Organization such as bright colors, pictures, and car-
Author Affiliations: Division of and the Food and Agriculture Organiza- toon characters.8 By middle childhood,
General Pediatrics, Department tion of the United Nations concluded that most children can name multiple brands
of Pediatrics (Dr Robinson); marketing of energy-dense foods and fast of child-oriented products.7 Even among
Stanford Prevention Research
food outlets is a “probable” cause of in- very young children, awareness and rec-
Center, Department of Medicine
(Drs Robinson and Matheson), creasing overweight and obesity among the ognition translate into product requests,
and Department of Psychiatry world’s children.3 begging and nagging for specific product
and Behavioral Science Food marketing to children is wide- names and brands.7,9
(Dr Kraemer), Stanford spread. The food and beverage industries In a prior experiment, we demon-
University School of Medicine, spend more than $10 billion per year to strated that even a single exposure to a tele-
Stanford, California; and the market to children in the United States.1 vision advertisement affected preschool
Department of Health, Behavior
and Society, Johns Hopkins
One of the goals of marketing is branding children’s brand preferences.10 To follow
Bloomberg School of Public to encourage children to recognize and dif- that experiment and extend the existing
Health, Baltimore, Maryland ferentiate particular products and logos. research,1 it is desirable to examine the ef-
(Dr Borzekowski). By 2 years of age, children may have be- fects of the broader, cumulative, real-

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 world marketing and brand exposures that young chil- McDonald’s packaging was taken out of a McDonald’s brown
dren experience but that we are unable to measure directly. paper bag with a yellow, blue, and red arches logo, and each
In the current experiment, therefore, we investigated food in plain packaging was taken out of a matched plain brown
whether preschool children’s taste preferences were in- paper bag. The order of foods presented and placement of the
McDonald’s wrapped food on the left or right followed a pre-
fluenced by branding from a heavily marketed source. To
determined random order for each child and each food.
do so, we asked preschool children to taste identical foods After placing the 2 food samples on the tray, RA2 asked, “Can
in packaging from McDonald’s and in matched but un- you tell me which of these foods [drinks] is from McDonald’s?”
branded packaging and to indicate if they tasted the same to ensure that the experimental manipulation was apparent to
or if one tasted better. We chose McDonald’s because it is the child. The RA did not say anything more if the child cor-
the largest fast food advertiser in the United States,11 and rectly identified the food or drink in the McDonald’s wrap-
we expected most, if not all, preschool children to be fa- ping. If the child did not answer or answered incorrectly, RA2
miliar with the McDonald’s brand because of extensive pointed to the McDonald’s branded food or drink and said in a
marketing.12 We hypothesized that 3- to 5-year-olds neutral voice, “This food [drink] is from McDonald’s.” Re-
would prefer the taste of foods they perceived to be from search assistant No. 2 stood behind and out of eye contact with
the child to prevent any unintentional expressions of approval
McDonald’s compared with the same foods without
or disapproval and did not repeat instructions or assist the child
McDonald’s branding. during the task.
The blinded RA1 then said, “Now, take 1 bite [sip] of this
food [drink],” pointing her finger around 1 side of the screen
METHODS
following a predetermined random order. She next pointed
around the other side of the screen and said, “Now, take 1 bite
Participants were 3- to 5-year-old children and their parents [sip] of this food [drink].” She then said, “Tell me if they taste
recruited from 6 centers in San Mateo County, California, for the same, or point to the food [drink] that tastes the best to you.”
Head Start, a federally sponsored preschool program for low- It was an important design feature to offer the option that the
income families. The study was introduced at parent meet- 2 food samples tasted the same, the “correct” answer, to be able
ings, and informed consent and a 2-page parent questionnaire to falsify our hypothesis. Research assistant No. 2 recorded the
in English and Spanish were sent home to parents. Parents noted child’s responses, and the procedure was repeated for each food
if their child should not be allowed to eat each food and drink or drink.
to be tested. The study was approved by the Stanford Univer- Parents completed a self-administered questionnaire in En-
sity Panel on Human Subjects in Medical Research. glish or Spanish, including their child’s birth date; their child’s
Trained research assistants asked participating children if race/ethnicity; the number of television sets in their home;
they wanted to play a food tasting game. Children were told whether there was a television in their child’s bedroom; the num-
they did not have to play if they did not want to, and they could ber of hours of TV their child watched in a typical week; the
stop at any time. Communication was in English and/or Span- frequency with which the TV was on at their house for most of
ish as appropriate. Children sat at a table with a tray in front of the morning, in the afternoon, during dinner, and in the
an opaque screen. One research assistant (RA1) sat behind the evening13; if in the past week their child had asked them for
screen and could not see the child or the tray, but her arms could any foods or drinks that he/she saw on television14; how often
reach around the screen. She said, “When I sit here, you won’t their child ate food from McDonald’s and other fast food res-
be able to see me, but we can still talk to each other.” She then taurants; and whether there were any toys from McDonald’s
said, “[name of RA2] is going to bring you 2 foods to taste.” in their home.
Research assistant No. 2 placed 2 samples of each of 5 foods in The null hypothesis was that children would express no pref-
front of the child, 1 at a time, on the left and right sides of the erence between the 2 samples of each food or drink (the correct
tray. The foods were (1) one-quarter of a McDonald’s ham- answer). To favor the null hypothesis, children were considered
burger, one partially wrapped in a white McDonald’s wrapper to have no preference when they (1) responded that the 2 samples
showing the McDonald’s logos and the word Hamburger in tasted the same, (2) did not respond at all, or (3) did not know.
brown and the other wrapped identically in a matched plain Preference for the food identified as McDonald’s was coded ⫹1,
white wrapper of the same size and material; (2) a Chicken preference for the unbranded food was coded −1, and no prefer-
McNugget in a white McDonald’s bag with a red arches logo ence was coded 0. For the primary analysis, testing preferences
and the phrase Chicken McNuggets in blue and the other in a across all foods combined, we averaged a participant’s answers
matched plain white bag; (3) 3 McDonald’s french fries in a to create a total preference score between −1 and ⫹1 for each par-
white bag with a McDonald’s yellow arches and smile logo on ticipant. To test the null hypothesis, we used a nonparametric Wil-
a red background and the words “We love to see you smile” in coxon signed rank test. In secondary analysis, we also tested the
blue on yellow along the edge and 3 fries in a matched plain null hypothesis for each food or drink separately using a non-
white bag; (4) about 3 ounces of 1% fat milk (or apple juice parametric McNemar test. We then explored whether measured
for 1 child who was not allowed to drink milk) in a white pre-existing factors moderated15-17 children’s total preferences
McDonald’s cup with lid and straw and in a matched plain white scores using the nonparametric Spearman rank correlation for
cup with lid and straw; and (5) 2 “baby” carrots placed on top scaled variables, the nonparametric Wilcoxon Mann-Whitney U
of a McDonald’s french fries bag and on top of a matched plain test for dichotomous variables, and the nonparametric Kruskal-
white bag. Hamburgers, chicken nuggets, and french fries were Wallis test for categorical variables. Statistical significance was set
all purchased from a local McDonald’s. Carrots were not avail- at a 2-tailed ␣⬍.05.
able or marketed by McDonald’s at the time of the study. Only
unused (not previously in contact with food) McDonald’s and RESULTS
plain wrappings, bags, and cups were used so there would be
no residual smell or taste. Only the most basic available
McDonald’s packaging was used, without any additional pro- Parents of 95 children correctly completed and re-
motional markings (eg, additional graphics, Ronald McDonald turned consent forms and questionnaires of which 63 chil-
image, or images of movie characters). Each food in the dren (66%) completed the food tasting experiment and

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 measures listed in Table 1 except parent survey and child
Table 1. Sample Characteristics experiment language. Children who needed to be told were
significantly more likely to have a parent who completed
Characteristic Value a Spanish language survey or completed the experiment
Age, mean ± SD, y (range) 4.6 ± 0.5 in Spanish or mixed English and Spanish.
(3.5-5.4) The mean±SD total preference score was 0.37±0.45
(median, 0.20; interquartile range, 0.00-0.80) and sig-
Female, % 52.4
Race/ethnicity, %
nificantly greater than zero (P⬍.001), rejecting the null
Latino/Hispanic 55.6 hypothesis and demonstrating that children preferred the
African American/black 1.6 tastes of foods and drinks if they thought they were from
Asian/Pacific Islander 6.3 McDonald’s. Results for each food and drink are listed
Native American/Alaska native 1.6 in Table 2. Secondary analysis found that children were
White 12.7 significantly more likely to prefer the taste of a food or
Multiethnic or other 22.2
Spanish-language parent survey was used, % 47.6
drink if they thought it was from McDonald’s for 4 of 5
Experiment with child was conducted in Spanish or 38.1 comparisons. The findings were similar when exclud-
mixed English and Spanish, % ing those comparisons where children were told which
How often child ate food from McDonald’s, % food was from McDonald’s (mean±SD total preference
Never 3.2 score, 0.35±0.46; median, 0.33; interquartile range, 0.00-
⬍1 Time per month 25.4 0.73; P⬍.001).
1-3 Times per month 39.7
1 Time per week 19.1
Moderator analysis found that children with more tele-
2-3 Times per week 12.7 vision sets in their homes (r=0.27, P⬍.04) and children
4-7 Times per week 0.0 who ate food from McDonald’s more often (r = 0.30,
How often child ate food from other fast food P⬍.02) were more likely to prefer the taste of foods/
restaurants, % drinks if they thought they were from McDonald’s
Never 6.4 (Figure 1 and Figure 2). Other baseline measures listed
⬍1 Time per month 23.8
1-3 Times per month 42.9
in Table 1 were not statistically significant moderators.
1 Time per week 17.5
2-3 Times per week 7.9
COMMENT
4-7 Times per week 1.6
Any toys from McDonald’s were in the house, % 76.2
TVs in the home, mean ± SD, No. 2.4 ± 1.2 By the early age of 3 to 5 years, low-income preschool
Child’s bedroom had a TV, % 57.1
children preferred the tastes of foods and drinks if they
TV watching by child per week, mean ± SD, h 7.4 ± 6.9
Household TV use, mean ± SD (scale score range, 7.3 ± 3.8 thought they were from McDonald’s, demonstrating that
0-16) brand identity can influence young children’s taste per-
Child requests for foods or drinks seen on TV during 1.0 ± 1.5 ceptions. This was true even for carrots, a food that was
the past week, mean ± SD, No. not marketed by or available from McDonald’s. These taste
preferences emerged despite the fact that 3 of the foods
Abbreviation: TV, television. were from McDonald’s and only the branding was
changed, indicating that the effects were not due to fa-
miliarity with the taste or smell of McDonald’s food. Even
comprised the analysis sample; 7 declined to participate the children with the lowest frequency of eating food from
when asked; 8 were absent, had moved, or were not avail- McDonald’s had average positive total preference scores,
able during the days and/or times of the experiment; and indicating they preferred more of the branded foods
17 were unable to understand or refused to complete the (Figure 2).
protocol. Table 1 lists characteristics of the analysis We used McDonald’s branding in this experiment be-
sample. Participating and nonparticipating children did cause of its leadership position in fast food advertising
not significantly differ on any of these measures. and marketing.11,12 Although the participating children
The 63 children performed a total of 304 individual tast- ranged in age from only 3 through 5 years, about a third
ing comparisons. Three, 2, 3, 1, and 1 child were not al- of the parents reported their children were eating food
lowed to eat hamburger, chicken nuggets, french fries, milk, from McDonald’s weekly or more, and just 2 of 63 re-
and carrots, respectively, and 1 child was unable to bite the ported never eating food from McDonald’s. McDonald’s
carrots. The McDonald’s branded food was positioned on food was eaten more frequently than food from all other
the left side for 48.6% of comparisons. Children needed fast food restaurants combined, and about three-
to be told which food was from McDonald’s for 20.6%, quarters of parents reported that they had a toy from
30.2%, 22.2%, 33.3%, and 27.0% of the hamburger, chicken McDonald’s in their homes. Although it was not pos-
nuggets, french fries, milk/apple juice, and carrot compari- sible to objectively measure total past exposure to
sons, respectively (not statistically significant across foods). McDonald’s marketing, these reports indicate the chil-
Sixty-two percent, 17%, 8%, 5%, 2%, and 6% of children dren were receiving substantial exposure to the
needed to be told which food was from McDonald’s for 0, McDonald’s brand.
1, 2, 3, 4, and all 5 comparisons, respectively. There were Exploratory moderator analysis was performed to iden-
no statistically significant differences between these groups tify characteristics that define potentially more or less sus-
of children for their total preference scores or any of the ceptible groups of participants and to help inform fu-

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 Table 2. Children’s Taste Preferences

No. (%)

Taste the Same or P

Food or Drink Item Plain No Answer McDonald’s Value a
Hamburger 22 (36.7) 9 (15.0) 29 (48.3) .33
Chicken nuggets 11 (18.0) 14 (23.0) 36 (59.0) ⬍.001
French fries 8 (13.3) 6 (10.0) 46 (76.7) ⬍.001
Milk or apple juice 13 (21.0) 11 (17.7) 38 (61.3) ⬍.001
Carrots 14 (23.0) 14 (23.0) 33 (54.1) .006

a Nonparametric McNemar test.

0.6 0.6

0.5 0.5

Preference Score
Preference Score

0.4 0.4

0.3 0.3

0.2 0.2

0.1 0.1

0 0
1 2 3 ≥4 <1 per Month 1-3 per Month 1 per Week 2-3 per Week
Television Sets in the Household, No. Eating Food From McDonald’s

Figure 1. Number of television sets in the household as a moderator of taste Figure 2. Frequency of eating at McDonald’s as a moderator of taste
preferences. Total preference scores may range from −1 (preferred the preferences. Total preference scores may range from −1 (preferred the
unbranded food in all comparisons) to ⫹1 (preferred the McDonald’s unbranded food in all comparisons) to ⫹1 (preferred the McDonald’s
branded food in all comparisons). branded food in all comparisons).

ture research.15-17 These are relatively low-powered Instead of testing the effects of only advertising, as in past
hypothesis-generating analyses. Only the number of tele- research, this study was designed to try to capture the
vision sets at home and frequency of eating food from influences of the entirety of McDonald’s brand expo-
McDonald’s were found to be statistically significant mod- sure, including direct and indirect marketing, that young
erators of the branding effect (Figure 1 and Figure 2). children had already experienced by 3 to 5 years of age.
Frequency of eating McDonald’s food indicates greater This study included a number of design features to en-
opportunities for brand exposure and prior taste expe- hance the ability to draw causal inferences. It was a true
riences and potentially represents familiarity, trust of the experiment in which only the branding was manipu-
source, safe provenance, and implicit approval by par- lated. Pairs of food and beverage samples were taken from
ents. Number of televisions in the home might indicate the same original servings and packaging was matched
greater exposure to McDonald’s advertising or be asso- in color, material, shape, and design. Only basic
ciated with other mechanisms leading to greater respon- McDonald’s packaging was used with no images of Ron-
siveness to branding. Other measures related to televi- ald McDonald or other markings that could potentially
sion exposure were not statistically significant moderators, influence the children’s preferences, and only previ-
although number of televisions may be more reliably and ously unused packaging was used to avoid residual smells
validly measured than estimates of viewing time,18 pro- or tastes. We ensured the success of the manipulation
viding more power for the analysis. Another possible by making sure children were aware of the branding dif-
marker of marketing exposure is having toys from ference for each food or drink pair. Although it is im-
McDonald’s in the home. Lack of a significant modera- possible to totally rule out the possibility of demand ef-
tor effect of this variable might reflect its very high preva- fects, we took many steps to prevent unintentional bias.
lence in the sample, reducing power. Finding that fre- For example, the RA giving instructions was not able to
quency of eating McDonald’s food was a statistically see the food or the child; food and drink samples were
significant moderator but frequency of eating food from randomly ordered and positioned, also preventing or-
other fast food restaurants was not may suggest some der effects; and children were not given feedback about
specificity of the branding effect on taste preferences. their selections. Children were given the option of say-
This was a real-world study addressing a straightfor- ing the samples tasted the same, allowing falsification of
ward, real-world question: do children prefer the taste our hypothesis. We also coded choices conservatively to
of food and drinks if they think they are from McDonald’s? favor the null hypothesis; children who did not, could

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 not, or would not respond were included with “taste the Future research might examine the effects of less rec-
same” answers for analysis. We tested the null hypoth- ognizable brands or contrast different brands and
esis with a single omnibus test for statistical signifi- packaging with variable levels of recognition and natu-
cance to reduce the risk of type I error and checked this ral exposure.
result excluding those children who needed to be told
which sample was from McDonald’s, finding similar re- Accepted for Publication: March 3, 2007.
sults. A secondary analysis for each individual food or Correspondence: Thomas N. Robinson, MD, MPH, Stan-
drink found statistically significant effects in 4 of 5 com- ford Prevention Research Center, Hoover Pavilion, Room
parisons, all with a majority favoring the McDonald’s N229, Mail Code 5705, 211 Quarry Rd, Stanford, CA
branded sample (about 54%-77%) over the other 2 pos- 94305-5705 ([email protected]).
sible responses. Of course, a nonsignificant test result does Author Contributions: Dr Robinson was principal in-
not indicate no effect. For the fifth comparison, about vestigator of the study and had full access to all of the
48% preferred the McDonald’s branded hamburger com- data in the study and takes responsibility for the integ-
pared with 37% who preferred the unbranded ham- rity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. Study
burger and 15% who thought they tasted the same or were concept and design: Robinson, Borzekowski, Matheson,
unable to answer. Together, these results demonstrate sub- and Kraemer. Acquisition of data: Matheson. Analysis and
stantial homogeneity across different foods and drink. We interpretation of data: Robinson and Kraemer. Drafting of
also used nonparametric statistics for hypothesis test- the manuscript: Robinson, Borzekowski, Matheson, and
ing, making no assumptions about the distributions of Kraemer. Critical revision of the manuscript for important
our measures. intellectual content: Robinson, Borzekowski, Matheson,
Our findings add to past research by demonstrating and Kraemer. Statistical analysis: Kraemer. Obtained fund-
that specific branding can alter young children’s taste ing: Robinson. Study supervision: Matheson.
preferences. We are unable to directly measure or Financial Disclosure: None reported.
manipulate total marketing (direct to the child and Funding/Support: This study was supported in part by a
indirect via family, peers, and others) and/or product Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Generalist Physician Fac-
exposure for the entire first 3 to 5 years of life, and ulty Scholar Award (T.N.R.) and support from the Depart-
multiple exposures to the brand cannot be disen- ment of Pediatrics and the Stanford Prevention Research
tangled. We did not, and cannot, anticipate or test Center, Stanford University School of Medicine.
how each individual direct and indirect exposure to Role of the Sponsor: Funding organizations had no role
McDonald’s marketing, food, packaging, etc, influ- in design and conduct of the study; collection, manage-
ences a child’s perceptions but accepted these as a ment, analysis, and interpretation of the data; and prepa-
complex whole of both independent and interacting ration, review, or approval of the manuscript.
influences on emotions and perceptions about the Additional Contributions: K. Farish Haydel and Yun
brand. Children’s responses to the McDonald’s brand- Wang, MS, provided database management and data
ing in the experiment, therefore, may reflect past analysis. We thank the research assistants who worked
direct and/or indirect marketing exposure as well as with the children and parents; and the participating chil-
past experience with McDonald’s products or packag- dren and parents themselves for all their contributions
ing. Notably, these branding effects were evident in to this study.
our low-income, ethnically and culturally diverse, 87%
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