Skin Conductance Responses Indicate Children are Physiologically Aroused by Their Favourite Branded Food and Drink Products

Rachel Smith, Bridget Kelly, Heather Yeatman, Stuart Johnstone, Louise Baur, Lesley King, Emma Boyland, Kathy Chapman, Clare Hughes and Adrian Bauman
Additional contact information
Rachel Smith: Early Start, School of Health and Society, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
Bridget Kelly: Early Start, School of Health and Society, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
Heather Yeatman: School of Health and Society, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
Stuart Johnstone: Brain and Behavior Research Institute, School of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
Louise Baur: Discipline of Child and Adolescent Health, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Lesley King: Sydney School of Public Health, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Emma Boyland: Psychological Sciences, Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, University of Liverpool, Merseyside L69 7ZA, UK
Kathy Chapman: Cancer Council NSW, 153 Dowling Street, Woolloomooloo, NSW 2011, Australia
Clare Hughes: Cancer Council NSW, 153 Dowling Street, Woolloomooloo, NSW 2011, Australia
Adrian Bauman: Prevention Research Collaboration, School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 17, 1-11

Abstract: Children’s favourite food and beverage brands use various tactics to foster positive associations and loyalty. This brand-consumer dynamic is frequently influenced by the use of implicit techniques and emotional appeals. Few studies have used physiological methods to examine the connections that brands build with children and the influence this has on their automatic responses. These techniques are potentially less prone to bias than behavioural or cognitive methods. This is the first study to explore the implicit response that children have to images of their favourite food and beverage brands using skin conductance responses as a marker of arousal. Australian children aged 8–11 years ( n = 48) were recruited. Images of the participants’ favourite branded food and beverage products, alongside images of the same products unpackaged, their family and friends, and neutral objects were presented in a randomised order with a standard timed interval between images. Children were significantly more aroused by branded images of their favourite food and beverage products than by their unpackaged counterparts ( p < 0.042, d = 0.4). The physiological response to the branded products was similar to the response to the children’s family and friends ( p = 0.900, d = −0.02). These findings suggest that children may have an implicit connection to their favourite branded products.

Keywords: public health; food marketing; food packaging; electrodermal activity; childhood obesity; skin conductance responses; food and beverage branding (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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