No Matter What’s In That McDonald’s Wrapper, the Kids Are Lovin’ It

Next time your tot’s not eating his taters, simply dump the dinner plate’s contents into a Big Mac wrapper–problem solved. According to this Stanford University study, kids like food more if its packaging says it’s from McDonald’s.

63 low-income children aged 3 to 5 were served McDonald’s fare as well as regular foods like carrots, juice and milk that were “branded” with McDonald’s wrappers or cups. They also got all the same items in plain unmarked packaging and were asked to name which foods tasted the best. The most popular trans-fat choice is no surprise:

McDonald’s-labeled samples were the clear favorites. French fries were the biggest winner; almost 77 percent said the labeled fries tasted best while only 13 percent preferred the others.

People are in uproar about the ethics of marketing unhealthy food to kids, but that’s only telling one side of the story. The way we see it, everyone working in branding for McDonald’s should get a big fat raise.

Thanks to Christopher Simmons.

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