The influence of brand-equity mascots used by U.S. food, beverage, and restaurant companies on the diet of American children and parents

Researchers have examined the influence of entertainment companies' licensed media characters on children's diet and health. Conversely, limited empirical research exists on how food, beverage and restaurant companies use brand mascots to influence the dietary preferences and choices of children and their parents. This M.S. thesis is comprised of two studies that address this knowledge gap. The first study conducted a nutrient-profile analysis of 20 food, beverage, and restaurant products that use brand mascot marketing to children, whose companies are members of the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI), an industry self-regulatory program. Products were evaluated using seven nutrient-profile models or nutrition guidelines. Results showed that all twenty products that used brand mascots failed to meet one or more of the guidelines, especially for candy/sweets, children's meals, and snack foods. The second pilot study used Q methodology to explore the views of five child-parent dyads concerning the influence of brand mascots on their diet-related cognitive outcomes. Each child and one parent independently completed a demographic survey, a brand mascot and product association survey, and a card-sort with 48 brand mascot images to determine 'most-liked' versus 'most-disliked' mascots. Factor analysis identified three unique viewpoints that were shared by participants including: 1) Breakfast Cereal Animal Lovers; lover of mascots with eyes/hands of approval; and 3) human, hat-wearing mascot lovers. Participants associated 66 percent of products with the correct brand mascots. These results may inform policy-relevant recommendations to strengthen industry self-regulatory programs to create a more healthful childhood marketing atmosphere.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise

Department dc:contributor.department

Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2017

Author dc:creator

• Brownell, Taylor Reed

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Kraak, Vivica

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Ivory, Adrienne Holz
• Hedrick, Valisa E.
• Misyak, Sarah A.

• Brand-equity mascots
• Q methodology
• Children
• parents
• food and beverage marketing

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:11641

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/86359