Children’s pester power, packaging and unhealthy food preference

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to understand the extent to which packaging influences Brazilian parents' purchasing willingness based on children's food preferences for unhealthy food products.

Design/methodology/approach

Parents, with children up to 12 years old, answered questions about the positive influence of the packaging on the children, the preferences of the children in their willingness to buy and the propensity to give in to the desires of the children. Data analysis was performed with the statistical software SPSS and Stata used for structural equations modeling.

Findings

The results back the outlined hypotheses and point out that the characteristics of the packaging positively influence children's preferences as well as parents’ who are prone to give in to such influences. In some relationships, there was a minute moderating effect of social desirability and social class.

Research limitations/implications

The research presents as a limitation the nature of the sample, parents, to the extent that the influences of the packages on the children were analyzed from their perspectives.

Practical implications

Findings from the research can be used to think about preventive public policies to protect children as highly vulnerable subjects. Another practical implication is that the same marketing strategies that are used for unhealthy foods can also be used for healthy foods, improving their linkage to the children once there are evidences that packaging can positively influence their preferences.

Originality/value

The originality of this study is to focus on children's food preferences for unhealthy products and in parents with children up to 12 years old, which is not often investigated by researchers.

Citation

Christino, J.M.M., Cardozo, E.A.A., Silva, T.S. and Mazzini, C. (2020), "Children’s pester power, packaging and unhealthy food preference", Young Consumers, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 35-55. https://doi.org/10.1108/YC-03-2019-0973