Whether it is carrots or chicken nuggets, to pre-schoolers it all tastes better when wrapped in McDonald's wrapper, according to a new study by Stanford University and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.
"Kids don't just ask for food from McDonald's, they actually believe that the chicken nugget they think is from McDonald's tastes better than an identical, unbranded nugget," said Thomas Robinson, MD, director of the Center for Healthy Weight at Packard Children's Hospital.
Robinson and colleagues conducted a taste test with a total of 63 kids aged 3 to 5. Asked to sample two identical food samples from the fast-food giant McDonald's, children preferred the taste of the version branded with the restaurant's familiar "Golden Arches" to one extracted from unmarked paper packaging.
The children sampled five foods: chicken nuggets, a hamburger, French fries, baby carrots and milk.
The chicken nuggets, hamburger and French fries were all from McDonald's; the carrots and milk were purchased from a grocery store.
Each food sample was divided into two identical portions, one wrapped in a McDonald's wrapper or placed in a McDonald's bag, and the other in similar wrapping without the brand logo.
The children were randomly asked to taste first one and then the other of the five identical, differently packaged, pairs of food samples and indicate whether they tasted the same or which they thought tasted better.
With four out of the five foods -- chicken nuggets, fries, carrots and milk -- significantly more children pegged the McDonald's product as tastier, despite the fact that the samples were exactly the same.
The study shows that even young children are swayed by brand preferences. It is likely to intensify the pressure on food and beverage companies to cut back on marketing to children as obesity rates among that age group continue to climb.
"The branding effect is very strong, even by only 3 to 5 years of age," said Robinson.
The degree of preference expressed by the children correlated with the number of television sets they had in their homes and the frequency with which they ate at McDonald's.
"It's really an unfair marketplace out there for young children," said Robinson, who is also a member of the Stanford Prevention Research Center. "It's very clear they cannot understand the persuasive nature of advertising."
Robinson is the lead author of the research, published in the August issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
He and his colleagues also asked the children's parents to complete a questionnaire that asked, among other things, how many TVs they had in their house, how often they ate at McDonald's and whether they had any toys from McDonald's.
The kids had an average of 2.4 televisions in their homes, and more than half the kids had a TV in their bedrooms.
About one-third of the children ate at McDonald's more than once a week, and more than three-quarters had McDonald's toys at home.
"We found that kids with more TVs in their homes and those who eat at McDonald's more frequently were even more likely to prefer the food in the McDonald's wrapper," said Robinson, adding that marketing is more than just television advertisements, and that it's not restricted to McDonald's.