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Kids prefer carrots that come out of McDonald's bags... even though McDonald's doesn't sell carrots

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American



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As Steve Mirsky reports in today's 60 Second Science podcast (which you can listen to here -- it will literally only take a minute), preschoolers -- that's 3 to 5 year olds -- consistently reported that food tasted better when it was presented to them in a McDonald's rather than a plain paper bag. Even when the food they were being presented with was carrots. Predictably, the strength of kids' brand preference correlated with the number of television sets in their home. If ever there were a more perfect demonstration of the efficacy of the $10 billion a year the food industry spends on marketing to kids... >> Study Finds Children Swayed by Brand Preferences | QSR >> Food in McDonald's wrapper tastes better to kids | CNN