"Although children had opportunities to learn something about a number of topics [on food producer web sites], the distinction between advertising and education was not always clear. ...Approaches that use a brand character to convey educational material (e.g., Twinkie the Kid describes how much vultures like Twinkies and then lists facts about vultures) are examples. In this particular case, there is the potential that children will learn incorrect information (i.e., that vultures eat Twinkies)."
Moore, Elizabeth S. and Victoria J. Rideout (2007). The online marketing of food to children: is it just fun and games? Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 26 (2), 202-220.
When you think about what vultures actually do eat, it's not clear to me whether including this accurate information would tend to make children more or less attracted to the Twinkies brand. I mean, carrion is pretty nasty, but don't kids often like nasty things? (For instance, remember this?) Perhaps the company is missing out on a great opportunity to fascinate/disgust kids with photos of vultures eating dead stuff.
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7 comments:
Somehow, "i.e., that vultures eat Twinkies" is just hilarious.
Yeah, you totally know the writer loved that line and the entire juxtaposition of academic writing style with this content.
At least, I do.
And you know, I think maybe a vulture *would* eat a Twinkie, if the circumstances were right.
Now there's a research idea...too bad I'm not focusing on the consumer psychology of birds.
A rat, dog, squirrel, or crow would eat a Twinkie for sure. Aside from the obvious, I'm not familiar with the exact tastes of vultures. (Or with the taste of vulture, for that matter.)
I took a guess that "this" would be Garbage Pail Kids and I was right. I never did understand the fascination.
Mom, you were clearly just out of touch with the delight kids get out of nasty stuff. Just be glad Jen and I didn't collect cards with gross and/or scary looking spiders on them. :)
Oh god, I just NOW remembered what a Twinkie actually is. I've been confusing it with a Twix bar since I read that article yesterday. Suddenly, trying to visualize a crow eating a "Twinkie" I remembered that it's the spongy yellow snack cake thing. Man.
Heh, yeah. Oblong yellow cake with white creamy filling. Yumtastic.
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