Taste Tests (RESULTS)

As mentioned earlier, I wanted to complete two different taste tests on children to find out which type of marketing is most effective to children and if children think that a food tastes different depending on which packaging it comes from. I have now gathered my results to date which are based on 80 participants.

Before completing the taste tests, I ensured that parents gave permission for their children to take part and explained the tests to them, including the foods that were going to be used. They then had a choice whether or not their children could take part and they were also there to supervise.

Here is the letter which they received beforehand: 

Hi there,

My name is Jessica and I am a university student currently writing my final year dissertation on the subject of ‘Children’s Food Marketing’. I would like to complete two different ‘taste tests’ on children in order to gather research for my essay. The aim of my essay is to discover how food marketing is affecting children and their health—whether that be in a positive or negative way. I’m hoping to find more positives than negatives.

There will be two different tests in total and the aim of the tests is to discover A) which type of marketing is most effective to children, e.g television advertisements, free toys or popular cartoon characters and B) If children think that a food tastes different depending on which packaging it comes from. 

The first test will be to find out which type of marketing is most popular with children and will involve three different food products as follows:

- McVities Chocolate Digestive Biscuits.

- Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles

- Haribo Minions

Each child will be given a choice between the three products and has to choose one.

The first product will come with an accompanying television advertisement (shown on a tablet device). 

The second product will come with a free toy.

The third product will have a popular cartoon character on the packaging.

The second test will be to find out whether the appearance of a product effects the children’s idea of the taste of that product.

This test will involve three of exactly the same food product, packaged in three different boxes/packets. 

The food used will be a Cadbury Mini Animal Biscuit.

The first will have a plain packet.

The second will have a popular character on the packet.

The third will have a popular brand name on the packet.

Each child will taste all three of the products and then decide which one they thought tasted the best.

The results collected on the day will be used within my essay for university. 

If you would allow your child/children to take part in the above two tests, please could you sign the following consent form and confirm that they have no allergies to any of the foods listed:

The results were as follows:

TASTE TEST 1: The children are given a choice between three different foods and have to pick only one which they are allowed to then consume. Before the children are given the option, they have to watch a television advertisement for option 1, they see the free toy they will receive if they pick option 2 and finally, they see the packaging which option 3 uses.

The options were as follows:

Option 1: McVities Chocolate Digestive Biscuits (TV AD)

Option 2: Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles (Free Toy)

Option 3: Haribo Minions (Characters)

17.5% chose Option 1.

52.5% chose Option 2.

30% chose Option 3.

These results show that being given a free toy is the most popular form of marketing. Coming in second is popular characters and finally, television advertisements were the least popular form of food marketing. 

TASTE TEST 2: The children are given three different forms of packaging, each with the exact same food inside. They have to taste all three of the foods and tell us which one they thought tasted the nicest. 

The options were as follows:

Option 1: Plain packaging.

Option 2: Popular character on the packet.

Option 3: Popular brand name on the packet.

3.75% chose Option 1.

58.75% chose Option 2.

22.5% chose Option 3.

15% said that the foods all tasted the same.

This result shows that the most popular form of packaging was that with a popular character on the front. Brand names came in second place and plain packaging came last, as expected. However, 15% of the children asked figured out that the foods were all the same product which shows us that taste is still a strong contender to children's food choices.