Karine Charry

Behavioural evidence for the effectiveness of threat appeals in the promotion of healthy food to children

The current paper investigates the effectiveness and the persuasion process of threat appeals on children. Disregarded by scholars, probably for ethical reasons, the study of negative appeals targeting 8- to 12-year-olds to promote healthy food seems nevertheless relevant, in the unprecedented context of childhood obesity. To test our assumptions, an experiment was set up with 126 children. Results indicate that the appeal is effective and that the persuasion process of threatening advertisements is led by affective reactions. In contrast to earlier research on older targets, cognitive processes do not improve its effectiveness. Furthermore, exposure to threat appeals increased pre-adolescents’ healthy food consumption in comparison with appeals that may be considered more ‘typical’, such as fun and action. These conclusions and a teleological perspective of ethics invite further study of threat appeals targeting children.

Product placement and the promotion of healthy food to pre-adolescents: When popular TV series make carrots look cool

Although many scholars have raised concerns about product placement directed at children, the practice may offer interesting outcomes when used for pro-social objectives. This study investigates the effectiveness of placements promoting the consumption of fruits and vegetables. Specifically, the modality (audio-visual vs. visual) of placements is studied. The role of referent others on children’s attitude towards healthy eaters and the target’s intentions to consume healthy food is also examined. Challenging previous findings on commercial placements in video games, our experiment on 72 subjects show that audio-visual (or bimodal) placements are of greater effectiveness than the unimodal ones when unbranded goods and passive media such as TV shows are considered. Then, the central role of the attitude towards healthy eaters is demonstrated, stressing the importance of referent others and value-expressive norms in the persuasion process. Managerial implications for public services and screenwriters of popular TV programmes are discussed, as are limitations and directions for further research.

Children and Promoting a Healthy Diet: A Study on the Effectiveness of Using Threats in Advertising

This paper presents two experiments showing the effectiveness of ads targeting preadolescents and embedding “threat appeals” to promote healthy food behaviors among 8 to 12-year-olds. Using classic advertising effectiveness indicators, this research provides evidence of message persuasion through negative affective reactions. Theoretical and practical implications are proposed – specifically in the worrying context of increasing obesity in children - as well as an ethical discussion about the relevancy of triggering negative affective reactions when children are the target.

Children’s response to co-branded products: the facilitating role of fit

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to represent the first empirical investigation of co-branding strategies whose target is children. It analyses such strategies’ potential in the context of brand extension for non-familiar brands combined with familiar ones and provides managerial implications for both brands. Design/methodology/approach – A leisure centre-based survey was used to collect information on children’s attitudes, evaluations of fit and consumption intentions of co-branded products. Findings – The findings confirm that co-branding strategies may have a very positive impact on attitudes towards partner brands, intentions to consume co-branded products and the host brand. They also indicate that consumption intentions for other products from the host product category are enhanced. From a theoretical perspective, the study stresses the essential mediating role of brand fit. Indeed, this construct appears to enable preadolescents to integrate simultaneous evaluations of two brands while constr...

The impact of visual and child-oriented packaging elements versus information on children’s purchase influence across various age groups

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of recalling visual and child-oriented product packaging elements vs informational content on children’s influence on household purchases. Design/methodology/approach – The study was conducted using quantitative research among 100 French consumers of breakfast cereals aged six to 11. Findings – The paper challenges previous findings. First, the recall of the various types of packaging elements was equivalent across age groups. Second, the impact of visual and child-oriented element recall on purchase influences was high, especially for younger children, but not superior to the impact of recalling informational packaging elements. Third, adding information and other elements to visuals reduced young children’s intentions to influence purchases, suggesting that the overload – not the nature – of elements has a negative impact. Fourth, packaging recall seemed weakly related to purchase influence – at least for well-known brands. Research limitation...