Cereal boxes marketed towards children are designed to make eye contact with kids to influence them to eat the cereal, according to a new study from Cornell University's Food and Brand Lab.
Researchers studied 65 cereal brands for children and adults from 10 grocery stores. They found that cereal brands for children were positioned lower on the shelves than cereals for adults. The researchers also found that the eyes of the characters on boxes for kid cereals looked downward, thus making eye contact with the children.
The result is increased "brand loyalty" among children.
"Creating spokes-characters who make eye contact with a product's target audience (child or adult) is a package design that can be used as an advertising tool that influences people to buy and develop brand loyalty," the study's authors wrote.
On the other hand, the people on cereal boxes targeted towards adults tended to look straight ahead instead of at the person.
In order to see if eye contact really influences brand loyalty, the researchers asked 63 participants to look at a box of "Trix" cereal and rate how much they like or trust the brand. The participants were shown two versions of the Trix cereal- one where the brand's white rabbit was staring at the participant, and another with the rabbit looking down.
Trust in the brand went up 16 percent when the rabbit looked directly at the viewer, the study's authors wrote. The "feeling of connection" participants had also went up 28 percent with eye contact. The results indicate that "spokes-characters that make eye contact may increase positive feelings towards the product and encourage consumers to buy it," the researchers wrote.
Aner Tal, a university post-doctoral research associate who co-authored the study, told The Huffington Post he does not think cereal brands are out to brainwash children.
"Personally, I don't' think it's a deliberate strategy," Tal said. "I think it's incidental...But the finding could be used for good," such as helping cereal companies advertise healthier alternatives to children, Tal said.
