Environment and Behavior
Environment and Behavior 2015, Vol. 47(7) 715 –733
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Article
Eyes in the Aisles: Why Is Cap’n Crunch Looking Down at My Child?
Aviva Musicus1, Aner Tal2, and Brian Wansink2
Abstract To what extent do cereal spokes-characters make eye contact with children versus adults, and does their eye contact influence choice? In study 1, the shelf placement and eye positioning of 86 cereal spokes-characters were evaluated in 10 grocery stores in the Eastern United States. We calculated the average height of cereal boxes on the shelf for adult- versus children-oriented cereals (48 in. vs. 23 in.) and the inflection angle of spokes-characters’ gaze (0.4° vs. −9.6°). We found that cereal characters on child- (adult-) oriented cereals make incidental eye contact at children’s (adults’) eye level. In Study 2, we showed that eye contact with cereal spokes-characters increased feelings of trust and connection to the brand, as well as choice of the brand over competitors. Currently, many of the cereals targeted toward children are of the heavily sugared, less healthy variety. One potential application of this finding would be to use eye contact with spokes-characters to promote healthy choices and healthier food consumption.
Keywords eye contact, spokes-characters, cereal, food marketing to children, product packaging
1Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA 2Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
Corresponding Author: Brian Wansink, John S. Dyson Professor of Marketing, Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University, 15 Warren Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853-7801, USA. Email: foodandbrandlab@cornell.edu
528793 EABXXX10.1177/0013916514528793Environment and BehaviorMusicus et al. research-article2014
mailto:foodandbrandlab@cornell.edu
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Introduction
Cereal is the second most widely advertised food to children besides fast food (Federal Trade Commission, 2008), and cereal companies spend more money marketing their products to children than any other packaged food sector (Kunkel et al., 2004). In the United States, US$3 billion in total is spent annu- ally on packaging designed for children, since packaging is regarded as par- ticularly important to attract consumers (Page, Montgomery, Ponder, & Richard, 2008). Children’s cereal boxes, in particular, often feature a spokes- character to promote the brand. While these characters have been shown to be effective in promoting a product (Nestle, 2006), little research has been done on questions related to positioning of the character on the package, their gaze, the height of the box on the shelf, and the impact of these on feelings of trust and on one’s ultimate choice.
By taking into account the average shelving height of a box and the direc- tion of the gaze of spokes-characters on cereal boxes, Study 1 focuses on the extent to which spokes-characters’ eyes make eye contact with children ver- sus adults. Study 2 enables us to determine how this influences choice.
Eye contact from spokes-characters could significantly affect cereal sales. Furthermore, spokes-characters are mostly used for less healthy, high-sugar cereals, potentially encouraging increased purchase and consumption of less healthy cereals. Lessons learned from this study could be applicable for mar- keting healthier cereal more effectively to children to change consumption behaviors.
To better understand how cereal is marketed in grocery stores, it is impor- tant to note that child and family cereals comprise approximately 50% of the shelf space in the average grocery store’s cereal aisle (Wilkie, Desrochers, & Gundlach, 2002). The positioning of cereals on the shelf is highly important to cereal companies, which accordingly pay slotting fees to the supermarkets to secure profitable shelf space for their products (Wilkie et al., 2002). Cereal marketed to families is typically placed at eye level, which is known to be a profitable location (Harris et al., 2009). In an experiment performed by a team of researchers at the University of Chicago in 1994, moving tooth- brushes from the top shelf of a store to eye level increased their sales by 8% and their profits by 6% (Drèze, 1994). This prime middle shelf is typically 51 to 53 inches off the floor, as the average eye height for women in the United States is 59 inches and for men in the United States 64 inches (Drèze, 1994). Cereal marketed to children is generally placed on lower shelves than adults’ cereal, so that it can be in their range of vision as they walk down the super- market aisle (Harris et al., 2009).
Apart from shelf placement, cereal companies devote US$56.3 million a year (24.6% of their youth marketing budget) to premiums, cross-licensing
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agreements, and celebrity endorsements that appear prominently on product packaging, which in turn affects consumer purchasing (Harris et al., 2009). Price promotions, multi-unit promotions, special displays, and health mes- sages on the box all encourage impulsive purchase behaviors and influence the relative value of products when compared with different alternatives (Abratt & Goodey, 1990; Dijksterhuis et al., 2005;Wansink, Kent, & Hoch, 1998).
A prominent marketing feature on many cereal boxes is the use of spokes- characters. Cartoon characters in particular have been shown to create a strong aura of trust among children (Van Auken & Lional, 1985). By the age of 2 years, children are able to identify frequently seen characters, and to demonstrate desire for those characters and their related products that they see on television, packaging and promotions (Gunnarsdottir & Thorsdottir, 2010). Children are attracted to characters that they can identify with, aspire to, or emulate (Lapierre, Vaala, & Linebarger, 2011). Combined with the nos- talgia that they elicit in consumers, these characters’ relevance and apparent experience with the product they are promoting create consumer trust, which then leads to a positive brand attitude (Garretson & Niedrich, 2004). But are these the only factors that create a sense of trust in the spokes-character? Eye contact could increase trust toward the spokes-character, which could then create a more positive attitude toward the cereal brand. The purpose of the two current studies was to explore the degree to which adult and child cereal spokes-characters make eye contact with consumers as they walk down the grocery store aisle, and to examine whether this could have an effect on con- sumer attitudes and behavior.
Spokes-characters are especially common on cereals marketed to children, which tend to be less healthful than cereals marketed to adults (Harris & Graff, 2012). On average, child brands contain 33% sugar, 5.1% fiber, and 525 mg of sodium; they have 56% more sugar, 52% less fiber, and 50% more sodium than adult brands (Harris & Graff, 2012). Furthermore, spokes-char- acters are most often featured on the less healthy cereals within the child brand subset; only 2 cereals in the top 10 family and child cereals rated as “most nutritious” feature spokes-characters, whereas 8 of the 10 least nutri- tious cereals feature spokes-characters (Harris & Graff, 2012).
In a cluttered environment with a wide variety of alternatives, spokes- characters can be a salient feature that helps the relevant cereals stand out in the crowded cereal aisle (Hoch, Bradlow, & Wansink, 1999). Because of their similarity to humans, characters can help draw attention to the cereals (Frischen, Bayliss, & Tipper, 2007). Facial features have been shown to draw covert attention (Dolan et al., 1996; Wojciulik, Kanwisher, & Driver, 1998), attention that is not evinced in head or eye movement (Posner, 1980).
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Emotional stimuli in general can be processed without explicit attention due to their salience (Pessoa, 2005). Faces in particular are salient to a human observer, and tend to draw neural response in visual processing areas of the human brain (Morris, Friston, & Dolan, 1997; Walker, Cootes, & Taylor, 1998). This can occur overtly, or without conscious attention (Critchley et al., 2000; Palermo & Rhodes, 2007). In other words, even without being explic- itly noticed, faces in their environment can be noticed and registered by human observers.
Given their propensity to draw attention or be registered even without conscious attention, the potential effects of spokes-characters on choice and evaluation are important. The familiarity of many spokes-characters can increase preference and choice (Cantril & Gaudet, 1939; Maslow, 1937). This is because familiarity generates positive feelings (Crandall, 1967; Zajonc, 1980). Repeated exposure, strengthened by the greater attention these characters draw, would generate greater processing fluency (Bornstein, 1989). Such fluency will in turn generate positive affect, which can translate to heightened evaluations (Reber, Winkielman, & Schwarz, 1998; Winkielman & Cacioppo, 2001; Winkielman, Schwarz, Fazendeiro, & Reber, 2003). In sum, repeated exposure to and familiarity with spokes-characters may gener- ate favorable evaluations of cereals featuring them.
While these effects of spokes-character are general and may occur when- ever such characters are used, the current investigation aims to examine whether eye contact by characters may enhance their effects, and whether this effect of eye contact is used in companies’ choice of the direction of gaze of cereals targeted at different audiences (adults vs. children). The eyes specifi- cally play the most important part in the process of facial recognition, and are thus the most salient feature of spokes-characters (Lam & Yan, 1996). Eye contact has been shown to cause people to view others as…
