We all know fast food isn't the healthiest, but there's been a new push to give kids better choices when they decide to go to their favorite restaurant. For example, Burger King offers apple slices instead of french fries. Now, though, it turns out that kids are mistaking these healthier options for unhealthy choices, which may impact what they decide to eat.
In the past, studies have shown that children are vulnerable to forming emotional attachments to fast food branches, especially when toys and Happy Meals are used, according to Time. That's why in 2010, fast food companies agreed to focus on healthier foods when it came to marketing targeted at children, according to Medical News Today. Yet these ads didn't work as expected; many of the children who watched the ads mistook apple slices for french fries.
The researchers presented children between the ages of three and seven with images from fast food TV ads that appeared on cable networks aimed at children. In the end, the scientists found that up to one half of the children did not recognize milk when they saw images of it from McDonald's and Burger King ads. In addition, only 10 percent of the children could tell that the sliced apples in Burger King's ads were actually apples and not french fries.
"Burger King's depiction of apple slices as 'Fresh Apple Fries' was misleading to children in the target age range," said James Sargent, one of the researchers, in a news release. "The advertisement would be deceptive by industry standards, yet their self-regulation bodies took no action to address the misleading depiction."
The findings are important for understanding how advertisements can mislead children. This is particularly important as childhood obesity rates continue to rise. By creating different ads for children, fast food companies can go a long way to introducing them to better food choices.
Want to see the children's reactions to the fast food ads for yourself? Check out the video below, courtesy of YouTube.
