I Say McBranding, You Say McBrainwashing… Study Says It Works

(FranchisePick) The Chicago Sun-Times story McBrainwashed? reports on a study that shows the effectiveness of McDonald’s sustained effort at marketing it Golden Arches to kids. The piece authored by Lindsey Tanner states:

Anything made by McDonald’s tastes better, preschoolers said in a study that powerfully demonstrates how marketing can trick the taste buds of young children.

Even carrots, milk and apple juice tasted better to the kids when they were wrapped in the familiar packaging of the Golden Arches.

The study had youngsters sample identical McDonald’s foods in name-brand and unmarked wrappers. The unmarked foods always lost the taste test.

“You see a McDonald’s label and kids start salivating,” said Diane Levin, a childhood development specialist who campaigns against advertising to kids.

Study author Dr. Tom Robinson said the kids’ perception of taste was “physically altered by the branding.”

McDonald’s claims the study proves their kid-branding prowess:

“The fact is, parents make the decisions for their children and our research confirms that we’ve earned their trust as a responsible marketer based on decades of delivering the safest food,” spokesman Walt Riker said.

Critics of the intense kid-marketing efforts of McDonald’s and others claim it proves American kids are being McBrainwashed:

Dr. Victor Strasburger, author of an American Academy of Pediatrics policy urging limits on marketing to children, said the study shows too little is being done.

“Advertisers have tried to do exactly what this study is talking about — to brand younger and younger children, to instill in them an almost obsessional desire for a particular brand-name product,” he said.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? GREAT BRANDING OR BRAINWASHING? BE THE RESEARCH; LEAVE A COMMENT.