Are Cereal Box Mascots Calling your Kids? Study

Cereal box cartoon characters may provide entertainment for your kids while strolling through the supermarket isles. Yet a recent study conducted by researchers from Cornell University's Food and Brand Lab and the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity show that these colorful boxes may be more beckoning to some than others. In other words, findings revealed that many companies purposely create and place these cartoons in the hopes that your child will be more likely to want a product. 

For the study, researchers examined 65 cereals in 10 different stores throughout New York and Connecticut. They found that 16 percent of the characters on brand cereal boxes were staring children directly in the eyes.

In particular, researchers found that Cap'n Crunch, Tony the Tiger and Luck, the Lucky Charms leprechaun, are hypnotically staring at kids. Of the 86 different characters evaluated, 57 were marketed specifically to children with a downward gaze hitting at an average angle of 9.67 degrees.

In other words, at a distance of 4 feet from shelves, kid's favorite cereal box characters would make incidental eye contact.

"If you have eye contact with something, even if it's somebody on a box, it looks more trustworthy," said Food and Brand Lab Director Brian Wansink in a video explaining the findings.

This could be particularly troublesome as many of children's snacks, including cereals, are loaded with sugar.

More information regarding the findings can be seen here.