The 30-Second Effect: An Experiment Revealing the Impact of Television Commercials on Food Preferences of Preschoolers
Section snippets
Subjects
Participants were preschool children attending a Head Start program in northern California. According to program statistics, 85% of the families enrolled in this program had total annual household incomes under $15,000.
The study was announced during an obligatory parent meeting at the Head Start program and all children were eligible. Research assistants approached parents during drop-off and pick-up times and offered them written and oral information about the study in English and Spanish. No
Results
Forty-six children participated in the experiment and interviews were completed with 39 of these children's parents. Participating children were similar to nonparticipating children (other children in the Head Start program) in gender, age, ethnicity, and highest education level of parent or guardian. The 7 children with no parental data did not differ significantly from the other 39 in gender or age (based on information provided by the participating children).
Of the 39 participating children,
Discussion
That television food commercials have immediate effects on children's short-term food preferences. Based on a 1990 law passed by Congress, commercials are limited in children's programming to 10.5 minutes per hour on weekends and not more than 12 minutes per hour on weekdays (19), (20). Our findings suggest that it takes only 1 or 2 exposures to a 10- to 30-second food commercial to influence 2- through 6-year-olds' short-term preferences for specific food products. This has important
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