Last week I sent out a survey to 40 different families asking the person who does the food shopping to complete the survey for me. I have had 30 replies back and so I am basing my results on these particular 30 families. The families in question have children ranging from 2-16 years old and all come from different areas within the UK.
Here are the results of the survey:
Question 1 asked: When shopping with your children, do they ask you to purchase certain foods for them?
20% answered Yes, most of the time.
60% answered Occasionally, they sometimes ask for certain things.
20% answered No, my children do not ask me to purchase certain products.
The majority of the children in these families sometimes ask for products in particular, but not always. There are as many children asking for products 'most of the time' as there is not asking for products at all, but the strong majority is that children are asking for products a percentage of the time.
Question 2 asked: If you answered Yes or Occasionally to question 1, do the foods your children ask for tend to be healthy options or unhealthier choices?
30% answered Healthy
None answered Unhealthy
70% answered Both
Most children ask for a range of both healthy and unhealthy products, or they do not have a preference when it comes to choosing a food based on it's nutritional value. Some children ask for healthy foods specifically, whereas none of the children in question ask for unhealthy foods. These results tell me that children who are asking their parents for foods are not asking them for unhealthy foods specifically, most of them are asking for a range and therefore may not be taking into consideration whether or not they are 'good for them'. This is good to hear as it means that the reasoning behind them eating the unhealthy options is not down to them knowing that can be bad for them.
Question 3 asked: Do you purchase the foods that your children ask for?
None answered Yes, I purchase the foods which my children ask me for.
80% answered Sometimes, I compromise and purchase certain foods which they ask for but not everything.
20% answered No, I purchase foods which I personally think are most appropriate.
The majority of children are getting a percentage of food which they are asking their parents/guardians for, but not everything. These results show that parents are giving in to their children's demands to a certain extent, but are compromising and not letting them have absolutely everything that they ask for. Only 20% buy foods that they personally think that are most appropriate and none at all are buying everything that their children ask for. Although the majority of parents may think they are being fair by compromising, they are still allowing a percentage of the foods their children are asking for into their homes. This could mean that the advertisers are still winning by targeting the children who then target their parents into buying their products.
Question 4 asked: Has a television advertisement ever made your children ask for a certain food product?
60% answered Yes, TV adverts have had an impact on my children wanting a certain food product.
40% answered No, TV adverts have never had an impact on whether my children want a certain food or not.
This shows that there are more children influenced by television advertisements than there are not influenced at all. This means that the advertisers taking to the television to advertise are getting their message out there loud and clear, and it's working too. It is one of the biggest platforms to advertise on and to get around the country fast and children seem to be falling into their trap quite easily.
Question 5 asked: Are your children more likely to want a certain food because it uses a certain character on the packaging/advertisements?
None answered Yes, if the packaging features a character they like then they are more likely to want that food, regardless of the type of food.
60% answered Sometimes, foods featuring their favourite characters makes them more likely to want it, but it depends what type of food it is.
40% answered No, the characters on the packaging has no impact on whether or not they want that particular food.
Same as with TV advertisements, there are more children influenced by their favourite characters than there are not influenced at all. This proves that characters do have a big input on whether or not a child wants to eat a certain food. Although there is still 40% who are not influenced at all, these were the older children within the bracket (13-16) and so these results show that younger children (under 13) are more likely to want a product if it shows a character they favour. Another thing to be taken into account with these results is that the type of food that the character is featured on also matters, it is not enough on it's own to make the child want the product.
Question 6 asked: Which of the following is most likely to make your children want to eat a certain food?
10% answered A television advertisement.20% answered The packaging of the product.20% answered A free giveaway (e.g a free toy).
30% answered The taste of the food. 10% answered The appearance of the food. 10% answered Because it is good for them.
Surprisingly, the taste of the food comes up most important in a child's decision to eat it. Free toys and product packaging is next in line before the appearance, tv advertisements and the healthiness of the products. This shows that the most important thing about a food for a child is how it tastes, the other things are just bonuses which are used as bribes to sway children towards a certain food. These results show that children don't really take into account whether or not something is healthy for them and they consider the taste of the product to be more important than the appearance.
Question 7 asked: If you make a packed lunch for your children, which of the following items are more likely to get eaten?
33.3% answered Sandwiches33.3% answered Fruits 33.3% answered Snacks e.g. Crisps, Chocolate, Biscuits etc.
This shows that it doesn't matter what type of food is put into a child's packed lunch, they don't pick particular items out and leave others, they mostly eat what they are given. This means that parents have more control over what their child eats whilst in school by packing their lunches for them.
Question 8 asked: If your children had a choice whether they could eat a piece of fruit or have a sugary snack such as a chocolate bar, which would they be more likely to choose?
None answered A piece of fruit, my children favour fruit snacks over sugary snacks.
20% answered A sugary snack, my children favour sugary snacks compared to fruit.
80% answered It depends, sometimes they would choose the fruit, other times they would choose the chocolate bar.
This shows that the majority of children don't have a preference when it comes to whether a food is healthy or not. They choose the foods they eat based on taste and not nutritional value. Although the results do show that 20% of the children in question prefer unhealthy, sugary snacks compared to fruit snacks, the majority still stands as impartial to a sugary snack vs fruit.
Question 9 asked: Do your children's diets differ to yours when you were their age?
40% answered No, my children's diets are almost the same as mine when I was their age.
20% answered Yes, I used to eat a much healthier, balanced diet.
40% answered Yes, I didn't have as healthy a diet as what my children have.
These results show that children's diets have either stayed the same or improved compared to their parents diets at their ages. Only 20% said that their diets were healthier and more balanced than their children's are now, the rest are either the same or healthier than their parents was. This is a surprising result as I would have thought that parents had a much healthier and balanced diet when they were younger as all we seem to hear about lately is how children's diets are going down hill. On the other hand, however, if a parent had a poor diet as a child they should be more likely to make a conscious effort for their children to have an improved diet compared to them so that they don't encounter the same problems they may have experienced.
Overall, the outcome of this survey has been successful in answering some of the questions I wanted clarifying. Although parents have the final say in what they are purchasing for their children, a lot of parents are giving in to children's food demands and buying them certain products which they specifically ask for. Children are asking for these products because they have seen a television advertisement, or it features a character they like, meaning that advertisers are in fact getting into the heads of children. I've discovered that the taste of a food is even more important to a child than an advertisement, character or free toy. They take the taste of the food into account more than it's appearance or how healthy it is for them but are still influenced by those things in a smaller amount. They aren't taking into consideration the nutritional value of foods and aren't particularly swayed into eating/not eating a food because of it's healthiness. They don't have a preference when it comes to whether they eat a healthy snack or an unhealthy snack, they choose it based on taste value, packaging or promotional offers. Finally, the families which completed this survey found that their children's diets have either stayed the same as theirs or improved compared to theirs when they were younger.
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