Even carrots, milk and apple juice tasted better to preschool kids if they were wrapped in the familiar packaging of McDonald's, according to research appearing in August's
Archives of Pediatrics &
Adolescent Medicine. Study author Dr. Tom Robinson, a Stanford University researcher, says the kids' perception of taste was "physically altered by the branding."
The study,
funded by Stanford and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, involved 63 low-income children ages 3 to 5 from Head Start centers in San Mateo County, Calif. Robinson believes the results would be
similar for children from wealthier families.
"This is an important subject, and McDonald's has been actively addressing it for quite some time," says company spokesman Walt Riker.
The study will likely stir more debate over the movement to restrict ads to kids. It comes less than a month after 11 major food and drink companies--including McDonald's--announced new curbs on
marketing to children under 12.
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