Can Public-Service Advertising Change Children’s Nutrition Habits? The Impact of Relevance and Familiarity

Monali Hota This study presents research conducted in France that builds (and tests) a framework IÉSEG School of for effectiveness of pro-nutrition public service announcements targeted at children. Management, LEM, UMR France The study used the example of advertisements that encouraged children’s fruit [email protected] consumption. “Child-relevance” of a campaign, which is created by using popular

Ruben Chumpitaz elements from commercial children’s food advertising, is found to be a key antecedent Cáceres to effectiveness of pro-nutrition messages, both in terms of attitudinal and behavioral IÉSEG School of change. Further, it is also important to take care of the aspect of “campaign Management, Lille, France and ESAN familiarity” and spend proportionate amounts of media budgets on public service University, Monterrico messages in comparison to commercial food advertising. Peru [email protected]

Antoine Cousin INTRODUCTION significantly lowered rates of childhood obesity Distribuciones Facundo, Obesity certainly has its origin in genetics, but and increased fruit and vegetable consumption, S.A., Spain nearly 70 percent of the prevalence is caused by in the commercial food sector and in public health [email protected] changes in the lifestyles of children and their par- (Frobisher, Jepson, and Maxwell, 2005; Murray, ents (AFSSA, 2004). Children today mature early 2001; Seaman and Kirk, 1995). This performance as consumers. Contributing factors include their comes despite a White House Conference on Food growing autonomous purchase power and their Nutrition and Health recommending as far back increasing influence on household purchases as 1970 that “tone, manner and feeling are crucial (especially in the context of dual-income house- to this task in public education” (U.S. Govern- holds; McNeal, 1992). ment, 1970). Advertising of child-oriented food products ulti- Traditional pro-nutrition campaigns—espe- mately exerts a significant influence on children’s cially those targeted at children—generally may attitudes and choices owing to the following: have been ineffective because they have tended to assume that improving nutritional knowledge • These advertisements capitalizing on the results in changes in food habits (Seaman and unique abilities and limitations of children Kirk, 1995), failing to realize the ways in which (Scammon and Christopher, 1981) the tone and manner of such messages need to be • Children’s familiarity with television adver- tailored for children (Murray, 2001). tising for such food products—in contrast to Academic research in marketing on the topic of their general lack of awareness of pro-nutri- pro-nutrition PSAs targeted at children has been tion public service announcements (PSAs; limited. In the late 1970s, there were some stud- Gorn and Goldberg, 1982). ies whose primary objective was to document the likely negative effects of some television commer- Further, there are very few reported instances of cials (food advertising, for instance) and to exam- effective pro-nutrition initiatives, in terms of both ine what could be done to counter them (Galst,

460 JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING RESEARCH December 2010 DOI: 10.2501/S0021849910091610 Can Public-Service Advertising Change Children’s Nutrition Habits?

Obesity certainly has its origin in genetics, but nearly that depicted the girls and their varying health and nutrition-related habits and 70 percent of the prevalence is caused by changes in preferences (Flores, 2006). Preliminary results suggested that this program posi- the lifestyles of children and their parents. tively reinforced two types of behavior— consumption of fruit and vegetables and participation in physical activities. Examining these findings in light of 1978; Goldberg and Gorn, 1979; Goldberg, may not actually happen (Seaman and the proven effectiveness of child-ori- Gorn, and Gibson, 1978). Such research, Kirk, 1995; Borra et al., 1995; Frobisher et ented marketing and advertising (espe- therefore, always has assessed the poten- al., 2005). In 2001, in FoodService Director, cially with respect to food products), tial educational impact of pro-nutrition Joan Murray wrote that some nutrition these findings imply that creating food messages as an offsetting influence to programs geared toward children may and nutrition concepts that conform to the controversial nutrition messages in have been generally ineffective to date, a particular target group’s (in this case TV food advertisements (Scammon and not because they deal with the topic of children) expressed desires, values, and Christopher, 1981). health but because of the tone and man- tendencies could be positive factors for There seems to be no research that com- ner in which the messages were conveyed. the creation of effective nutritional cam- pares different types of pro-nutrition PSAs In other words, public-health messages— paigns. In fact, a “Junk Food” episode of with one another to determine which one especially those aimed at children—often CBS’s “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids” has a stronger impact on behavioral inten- are full of facts and figures and carry a television program influenced young tions (without comparison with snack- moralistic tone to convey the seriousness viewers to select fewer sugared snack food commercials). The context for this of the concerned issues (Murray, 2001). and breakfast foods, even though the pro- type of research has shifted from a mere As far back as 1982, a study about the gram carried advertising for these food examination of the possible negative behavioral impact of televised food mes- lines (Goldberg et al., 1978). Research effects of food commercials to a deeper sages rated nutritional PSAs as lacking indicates that the program may have been examination of how pro-nutrition mes- in emotional appeal for children (Gorn successful because it used a combination sages can be used to encourage the kind and Goldberg, 1982). In spite of such of animation and comedy to entertain of healthy eating that would keep world- long-standing evidence, however, nutri- children. In doing so, the young audi- wide childhood obesity at bay. tional education professionals have yet ence paid more attention to the meaning- This article presents research conducted to address the ineffectiveness of such ful nutritional themes of eating balanced in France. The study builds and tests a programs. foods and avoiding junk food (Goldberg framework for effectiveness of pro-nutri- In contrast, one 1995 study found that et al., 1978). tion PSAs targeted at children, specifically an innovative healthy-eating campaign— The discussion appears further justi- studying the effects of PSAs that encour- a program jointly administered in pri- fied with the examination of research age children to eat fruit. Specific focus as mary schools by the food industry and on the personal relevance of advertising likely influences on this effectiveness is an academic department—produced messages, involvement, and advertising given to the impact of child-relevance of positive results, not only in terms of effectiveness. High personal relevance campaign and campaign-familiarity. knowledge of nutrition but in improved of an advertising message would seem food habits (Seaman­ and Kirk, 1995). to lead to thoughtful, systematic evalua- THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Similarly, “Food, Fun and Fitness Inter- tion of advertising message and content Nutrition Education: Is There Need for a net Program for Girls,” an American (Petty and colleagues, 1979–1983), unlike New Direction? nutritional education campaign targeted messages with low relevance (Petty and Some research suggests that traditional at African-American girls between the Cacioppo, 1979, 1981; Petty, Cacioppo, nutrition education not only is often bor- ages of 8 and 10, successfully addressed and Goldman, 1981). Similarly, research ing but that it tends to assume inaccu- the issue of childhood obesity. The series also suggests that high personal rele- rately that improving nutrition knowledge used Internet-based media and created vance of advertising messages will lead will result in changes to food habits that culturally sensitive animated characters to high attitude–behavior consistency

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(Leippe and Elkin, 1987; Sivacek and of their muscles or increase in their ath- toward the consumption of foods high in Crano, 1982). letic capabilities. fat, sugar, or salt (WHICH?, 2007). Empir- The adaptation of popular elements • Animated spokespersons or charac- ical research with parents with children from child-oriented advertising into ters are very effective in advertising under the age of 16 supports this, as 75 child nutrition PSAs, therefore, could be —especially with very young children, percent of the interview subjects agreed an important way to make nutritional who still sometimes have difficulties that the use of cartoons in the packaging/ messages more personally relevant to in reading and comprehending adver- promotion of unhealthy food had under- children—and, thereby, increase their tising messages. Such characters help mined their efforts to make their children involvement with messages. children develop both product knowl- eat more healthily (WHICH?). Similarly, edge and brand preferences (Neeley there has been a long-standing contro- Effectiveness of Child-oriented and Schumann, 2004). versy about the appeal of animated char- Food Advertising and Child-friendly • Advertisements that use production acters (i.e., R. J. Reynolds Nabisco’s Joe Advertising Techniques techniques such as rapid movement, Camel) to young children. If such figural Research on short ad-like television nutri- changes of scenes, innovative camera representations engage young children tion messages (i.e., PSAs about nutrition) angles, animated voices, music, and a and their more mature target audience, on children’s nutrition attitudes, beliefs, great deal of action have an advantage there is speculation that such youthful in maintaining the interest of the child interest may influence future behavior; in and behaviors suggests they are pro- viewer. the specific case of Joe Camel, that fasci- duced to capitalize on the unique cogni- • Child-oriented advertising should not nation with the cartoon character might tive abilities and limitations of children have heavy informational content and, increase future intentions to smoke. and, hence, potentially have a great deal instead, should focus on creating favo- of influence over children (Scammon and rable attitudes or impressions through Brand Familiarity Christopher, 1981). The study shows that emotional messages and appeals. In 1992, in the Journal of Consumer food advertising typically uses attrac- • Children become highly involved in Research, Gerald J. Gorn and Marvin E. tive and exciting celebrities/characters (and fascinated with) advertising that Goldberg (Gorn and Goldberg, 1982) to associate food products with positive uses catchy slogans—specifically, plays found that candy advertising was signifi- attributes and immediate rewards from on words, sounds, and phonetics. cantly effective in encouraging children consumption—actions that are conducive to choose candy over fruit as a snack. to the development of the kind of posi- Experts in the child-oriented marketing Their “Behavioral Evidence on the Effects tive attitudes that will likely predict their and advertising industries also support of Televised Food Messages on Children” consumption-related behavior toward these observations about child-friendly also suggested that children’s frequent the advertised foods (Scammon and advertising techniques. Paul Kurnit, a exposure to television advertising may Christopher). pioneer in youth-oriented marketing, in help explain this audience’s ready famili- A further review of academic litera- 1992 offered 10 tips to make children take arity with the messages. The authors ture proposes that there are six execu- more notice of advertising messages. Six contrasted this finding with the fact that tional elements (or techniques) that have of his choices were related to advertising they were largely unfamiliar with the proved effective in children’s advertising execution and are very similar to what nutritional PSAs owing to infrequent (Maher, Hu, and Kolbe, 2006; Neeley and the academic literature reports (see Kraak exposure. To compete effectively with the Schumann, 2004; Rust and Watkins, 1975; and Pelletier, 1998, for details). barrage of messages for candy and other Wells, 1965): The discussion about child-oriented such food, Gorn and Goldberg wrote, marketing includes examinations of the PSA advertisements must be aired • Children show highly favorable atti- animated brand spokespersons and frequently and continuously (Gorn and tudes toward fantastic situations and depiction of cartoon characters in mar- Goldberg, 1982). elements such as monsters and science keting material. A report by the largest Academic research on advertising fiction. consumer body in the United Kingdom effectiveness examines and discusses the • Children like demonstrations of prod- suggests that cartoon characters can be relationships between attitudes toward uct performance such as enhancement an effective means of pushing children advertising, attitudes toward brands,

462 JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING RESEARCH December 2010 Can Public-Service Advertising Change Children’s Nutrition Habits?

and subsequent behavioral intentions. The findings often point to the moderat- ing role played by factors such as brand Persuasion familiarity in different aspects of the rela- Attitudes toward Fruit Attitudes toward Child tionship (Batra and Ray, 1985; Machleit PSA (Public Service Fruit Relevance and Wilson, 1988). Announcement) Consumption Snack Choice STUDY OVERVIEW AND PROPOSITIONS The present study is an exploratory effort to compare the effectiveness of two PSAs for fruit consumption for children (hence- Campaign forth referred to as Fruit PSAs). The first Familiarity was produced by the French govern- ment in 2005 (“Classic Fruit PSA”) and was well known to French children; the other was a Cartoon Network U.K. video clip (“Animated Fruit PSA”) translated into French and viewed by an audience Figure 1 model of Fruit PSA Effectiveness largely unfamiliar with its content. (See “Methodology” section for details.) attitudes has important implications and that a viewer who feels good about for the attitude-formation process a commercial is likely to transfer the posi- A Basic Model of Child-oriented Fruit- (Gardner, 1985). tive feeling to that product itself (Cald- PSA Effectiveness well, 1981, as cited in Gelb and Pickett, Studies of advertising effectiveness of The authors’ findings imply that there 1983). commercially advertised brands often will be an interrelationship between The PSA use of popular elements from have focused on an examination of the children’s formation of attitudes toward child-oriented advertising could be one interrelationship between attitudes PSAs about fruit; children’s attitudes way of producing a cognitive component toward advertising (henceforth termed toward consumption of fruit after expo- of advertising—or, more specifically, of “Aad”), attitudes toward the adver- sure to the fruit PSAs; and children’s such PSA “likeability” considerations as tised brand (“Ab”), and purchase inten- behavioral intentions toward fruit con- child-relevance (i.e. “this PSA is meant tion (“PI”) or product selection. In 1996, sumption. Furthermore, it also suggests for children like me”). This possibility Phelps and Hoy conducted the first study that the child-relevance (and the famili- implies the following: of this interrelationship with children. arity) of the PSA will affect this string of In the pages of Psychology and Market- relationships (See Figure 1). P1a: Cognitive components such as ing, they discussed “…the explosion of perceived “child-relevance” of research in the past decade dealing with Child-relevance and Attitudes toward Fruit PSAs will significantly adults and the Aad-Ab-PI relationship.” Fruit PSAs influence children’s attitudes This interrelationship assumes impor- An attitude toward advertising that is toward the PSA. tance in an investigation of advertising generated by specific cognitive compo- effectiveness owing to two reasons: nents (humor, for instance) contrasts to P1b: The Animated Fruit PSA will what Terence Shimp, in a 1981 Journal of produce higher perceptions of • Aad is one factor that influences atti- Advertising article, called a generalized “child-relevance” than the Clas- tudes toward the brand and purchase “feeling” in response to an ad (Shimp, sic Fruit PSA and, therefore, will intention (Cox and Locander, 1987; 1981). Other research has detailed that produce more positive attitudes Thorson and Page, 1989). attitude can be created or altered by vis- toward the PSA in children. • Understanding the role of advertis- ual imagery without a verbal belief proc- ing attitudes in the formation of brand ess occurring (Rossiter and Percy, 1980)

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Attitudes toward Fruit PSAs and attitudes toward fruit after program, however, influenced children to Attitudes toward Fruit after PSA exposure to the Fruit PSAs. make healthier snack choices, despite the Exposure presence of advertising during the show There seems to be a contradiction in the P2b: The relationship between chil- for highly sugared snack and breakfast literature when the relationship between dren’s attitude toward Fruit foods (Goldberg et al., 1978). The authors attitudes toward advertising (henceforth PSAs and their attitude toward attribute this to the episode’s success in termed Aad) and attitudes toward the fruit after exposure to the PSA being highly entertaining and relevant brand (henceforth termed Ab) has been will be significant, both in the to the children and that the combination examined using brand familiarity as a case of the Animated Fruit PSA of animation and comedy is effective in moderating influence. Machleit and Wil- and the Classic Fruit PSA. gaining children’s attention. Consumers’ son (1988) hypothesize that the direct purchase intentions may be measured by effect of attitudes toward advertising on Attitudes toward Fruit after PSA the persuasiveness that they attribute to Exposure and Intention and Behavior attitudes toward brands will be signifi- advertising (Gelb and Pickett, 1983) or cant in the case of unfamiliar brands as toward Fruit Consumption by their choice of the advertised prod- the positive evaluation or liking for the The literature consistently shows a sig- uct, as depicted by one of the following brand could act as information that may nificant Ab-PI relationship in the case measures: be used in developing brand attitude. of adult samples (Brown and Stayman, This is supported by the findings of 1992). It also is likely to hold in the case of • The stated intention to purchase the prior research (see, for example, Batra and concrete-operational children, as children advertised product (Gelb and Pickett, Ray, 1985; Edell and Burke, 1986; Mess- in this stage of development already have 1983) mer, 1979; Phelps and Thorson, 1991). developed abilities to form and hold sta- • The likelihood of asking for the prod- In apposition is the suggestion that the ble attitudes according to Piaget (Phelps uct (Phelps and Hoy, 1996) relationship between Aad and Ab will and Hoy, 1996; Piaget, 1981). This abil- • Making product choices after exposure be nonsignificant in the case of familiar ity to hold attitudes suggests that these to advertising (Goldberg et al., 1978). brands, as the consumers’ brand attitude brand attitudes potentially are accessible already has been well formed (Fazio and after formation and could influence the This evaluation of intentions leads to the Zanna, 1981) and that an advertisement— purchase decision. That, in turn, implies following implications: even one they evaluate positively— a positive relationship between children’s should not have a strong effect on their brand attitude and their purchase inten- P3a: Children’s attitude toward fruit brand attitude (Machleit and Wilson, tion. The results of Phelps and Hoy’s 1996 after exposure to the Fruit PSA 1988). This second theory is supported by study strongly support this hypothesis will influence their perceptions the results of a study that report an insig- as brand attitude explained more of the nificant Aad-Ab relationship in the case purchase intention variance than all other of the persuasiveness of the of familiar brands, when controlling for variables (Phelps and Hoy). PSA. prior brand attitude (Machleit and Wil- Phelps and Hoy (1996) also found the son; Machleit, Madden and Allen, 1990). Ab-PI relationship is significant under P3b: Children’s attitude toward fruit Other researchers, however, have found a both the familiar and unfamiliar brand after exposure to the Fruit PSA significant Aad-Ab relationship for famil- situation. The relationship becomes will have a similar influence on iar brands (Batra and Ray, 1985; Edell stronger, however, under the familiar the persuasiveness of the PSA, and Burke, 1986; Messmer, 1979). In this brand condition, and they attribute this in the case of both the Classic article’s examination of children’s atti- change to two likely causes: the influ- and Animated Fruit PSAs. tudes toward fruit consumption after ence of repeated exposure to earlier ads exposure to Fruit PSAs, this implies the for familiar brands or the influence of P3c: Children’s attitude toward fruit following: past experience (i.e., prior brand knowl- after exposure to the Fruit PSA edge) in the formation of Ab for familiar will influence their hypothetical P2a: Children’s attitudes toward brands. A single episode (“Junk Food”) of choice of snack foods for that Fruit PSAs will influence their CBS’s “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids” TV evening.

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This ability to hold attitudes suggests that these brand Advertising Engagement and Its Impact on Children’s Responses to Fruit PSAs attitudes potentially are accessible after formation and By producing a cognitive component of advertising such as personal-relevance or could influence the purchase decision. child-relevance, popular elements from child-oriented advertising can be used in PSAs to encourage children to eat fruit. A review of the literature suggests that that P3d: Children’s attitude toward fruit be influenced by their attitude toward an involvement appears to be essential to after exposure to the Fruit PSA ad. Research provides initial support for understanding most consumption behav- will have a similar influence this contention both in the case of familiar iors (Dussart, 1983; Pecheux and Derbaix, on their hypothetical choice of and unfamiliar brands (Derbaix and Bree, 2002) and that the level of involvement snack foods for the evening, in 1997; Phelps and Hoy, 1996), although the influences the consequence of advertis- the case of both the Classic and strength of the relationship is question- ing message effects on attitude formation Animated Fruit PSAs. able. As discussed, consumer’s purchase (Ephron, 2006; Harvey, 1997). intentions may be measured both by per- Although “involvement” may manifest Attitudes toward Fruit PSAs and suasiveness and product choice. In this itself in several ways, it can be broadly Intention and Behavior toward Fruit study, the Animated Fruit PSA is new and identified as “the degree of personal rel- Consumption unfamiliar for French children but has evance and importance” of the advertis- Unlike the Ab-PI relationship, the lit- more child-friendly elements compared ing (Park and Young, 1986; Pecheux and erature does not offer consistent support to the familiar Classic PSA. This implies Derbaix, 2002). Alex Wang, in the Decem- for the Aad-PI relationship in adults. the following: ber 2006 issue of the Journal of Advertising Although some researchers have found Research, suggested that the engagement that Aad does not directly influence PI P4a: Children’s attitudes toward initiated by the contextual relevance of (e.g., (Brown and Stayman, 1992; Homer, the Fruit PSA will have a direct advertising—as defined by the Advertis- 1990; Mackenzie, Lutz, and Belch, 1986), influence on their perceptions of ing Research Foundation in 2006—may others have found that there is a direct the persuasiveness of the PSA, be an important driver of involvement or effect of Aad on PI, when brand familiar- both in the case of the Animated personal relevance because engagement ity is added into consideration (Thorson and the Classic Fruit PSAs. may be a precondition to creating the lev- and Page, 1989). In other words, Aad is els of personal relevance. likely to have a direct effect on PI when P4b: Children’s attitudes toward Arguing that children of different ages brand familiarity is low and emotional the Fruit PSA will have a direct and genders may find different levels of impact is high (Thorson and Page, 1989). influence on their hypothetical contextual relevance in different types of In their work, Phelps and Hoy sug- choice of snack foods for that Fruit PSAs, this implies the following: gested, however, that children may not evening, both in the case of the behave like adults with respect to this Animated and the Classic Fruit P5: The influence of cognitive issue, and that, in fact, children’s atti- PSAs. components such as perceived tudes toward the ad will have a signifi- “child-relevance” of Fruit PSAs cant direct influence on their purchase Effectiveness of Child-oriented Fruit on children’s attitudes toward intention. They attribute this to the PSAs—a Deeper Examination the PSA may be moderated concrete-operational child’s inability to The literature suggests the need for by the gender and age of the engage in meta-cognition—to think about deeper examination of the interrelation- children. their thought processes—as suggested by ships in the basic child-oriented Fruit Piagetian theory (Phelps and Hoy, 1996). PSA effectiveness model using children’s Attitudes Behavior Consistency in From this perspective, concrete-opera- age and gender as such considerations Children’s Responses to Fruit PSAs tional children may not be conscious that may affect—and thereby act as modera- Attitude-behavior consistency may their purchase intention response might tors of—the various relationships. occur to the extent that children form

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Children age 10 or younger are capable of forming an years of age. The sample also represented boys and girls equally. attitude toward an advertised product because the Experimental Stimulus advertising message is simple and because judgment Two Fruit PSAs were used for the experi- ment—one that already had been used immediately follows exposure to the message. by the French government and a second that had been specifically adapted for this study. The first Fruit PSA—henceforth an attitude toward an advertised prod- • The children should be capable of res­ referred to as the “Classic PSA”—had uct, compare their attitudes toward the ponding to a simple paper-and-pencil been created by the French govern- advertised product and the other alterna- questionnaire, a capability that is suf- ment’s Program National Nutrition Santé tives, and select the alternative that they ficiently developed by the age of eight bureau. It depicts a little girl sitting at a find most favorable (Roedder, Sternthal, (Goldberg et al., 1978). kitchen table reading a book and reaching and Calder, 1983). This process depends • The children should be as young as out automatically for her favorite sugary on a child’s age and the complexity of the possible, yet capable of understanding snack (chocolate cookies). She hesitates to decision task (Roedder et al., 1983). the commercial or persuasive intent of finish reading the page, however, and by Although children age 10 or younger advertising—an ability that also has the time she stretches her hand out again, are capable of forming an attitude toward started to develop by the age of eight a bowl of fruit has replaced the bowl of an advertised product because the adver- (Brucks, Armstrong, and Goldberg, cookies on the table. The basic message tising message is simple and because 1988). of the campaign: “Please Consume Lower judgment immediately follows exposure Amounts of Sugar-Laden and Fatty Foods to the message (Austin, Ruble, and Tra- Subjects were drawn from three to Protect Your Health.” basso, 1977), this same audience has been schools in suburban towns within a The second Fruit PSA (“Animated shown to have problems accessing previ- 20-kilometer radius of a major French PSA”) had been adapted from the Cartoon ously stored information (Kobasigawa, city. The survey team took care that the Network U.K. mini-series Elfy Food—the 1977) and making comparative judg- children were properly matched in terms tale of a gang of five elves whose spe- ments (Case, 1978; Wartella, Wackman, of socioeconomic background and fam- cial powers come from fruit and vegeta- Ward, Shamir, and Alexander, 1979). This ily income—important considerations, bles. The cartoon clip, which specifically implies the following: in light of an Obepi 2006 study in France focuses on apples, was selected to match that demonstrated that people in lower P6: The relationship between atti- income groups—including children— the French government’s classic PSA tudes toward the Fruit PSA and were more prone to bad food habits and format and translated into French, with children’s intention and behav- excess weight. Although the schools par- French voices overlaid on the English ior toward fruit consumption in ticipating in the study were a mixture soundtrack. This PSA depicts a wizard the form of perceptions of the of public and private schools, they were sending five elves in search of Crunch-a- persuasiveness of the PSA and homogenous with respect to children’s balls (the apple’s pseudonym in the mini- children’s hypothetical choice parental income. Further, the classes were series). The elves play a football match of snack foods for the evening selected from the primary-school level with giant centaurs; the game is settled may be moderated by their age. CM (CM1 and CM2) so that the children at the last moment when the elves find corresponded to the age group required Crunch-a-balls and feed one to the lit- METHODOLOGY for the study. tle girl elf, who has the last penalty kick Subjects The planning led to the selection of a of the match. Her supernatural strength This study was conducted with children sample of 143 French children between leads to a miraculous goal. The basic mes- between the ages of 8 and 11 years with the ages of 8 and 11: 53 percent between sage of the campaign: “Once We’ve Eaten, two objectives in mind: 8 and 9 and 47 percent between 10 and 11 We Can’t Be Beaten.”

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Drawing upon the previous discus- for children in both American (Rossiter, A five-item scale (a = 0.85) measured sion of the literature, the Classic PSA has 1977) and French (Bree, 1991) contexts. children’s attitudes toward the Fruit PSA used some child-relevant execution ele- Further, children may have a tendency (adapted from Pecheux and Derbaix, 2002 ments such as bright colors and music to opt for the neutral mid-point (“don’t by Van-Assche, 2005) and consisted of and an appealing child protagonist and know,” for instance) as a way of not pay- positive items such as “I like this ad”; “I even animation (the bowl of fruit edges ing attention to the question (Rossiter, find this ad great”; “I find this ad beauti- out the plate with chocolate cookies). The 1980; Wells, 1965). ful”; “I would like to see this ad again” appeal to a younger audience, however, is The age and gender of the child and one negative item: “This ad bores heightened in the Animated PSA, which respondents were measured by two cat- me.” uses almost all child-relevant execution egorical variables, AGELEV and GEN- A scale with three items (a = 0.80) elements discussed heretofore, including DER. AGELEV had two categories (1 = measured children’s attitudes toward animated spokespersons or characters; 8–9 years of age; 2 = 10–11 years of age), fruit after exposure to the Fruit PSA a fantastic situation; demonstration of and GENDER had two categories 1 = boy (from Arias-Bolzmann, Chakraborty, and product performance; rapid movement and 2 = girl. Mowen, 2000 as adapted by Van-Assche, and changes of scenes; innovative cam- The multi-item variables used in this 2005) and consisted of items such as era angles, animated voices, music, and study—namely, the measures for attitudes “I think fruits are good”; “I think fruits a great deal of action; verbal and visual toward Fruit PSAs and attitudes toward are agreeable”; and “I think fruits are humor; and a catchy slogan that plays on fruit after PSA exposure—had reliabilities enjoyable.” words, sounds, and phonetics. above 0.60 for children exposed to both As discussed in the previous section, This difference in style suggests that groups of Fruit PSAs, which is considered consumer’s purchase intentions may be that there should be a comparable dif- to be ideal for an initial phase of research measured both by the persuasiveness that ference in the level of child-relevance of (Nunally, 1967). they attribute to advertising (Gelb and the two Fruit PSAs, which makes them Personal relevance to the target audi- Pickett, 1983) and by their choice of the ideal test commercials for the study. (The ence—whether of commercial or public- advertised product (Goldberg et al., 1978; authors do acknowledge that the differ- service advertising—has been brought Phelps and Hoy, 1996). After exposure ences may be tempered somewhat by the into consideration in only a few studies to the Fruit PSA, the children’s behavio- Classic PSA familiarity to French children on adults (Darley and Lim, 1991; Petty et ral intentions toward fruit consumption and the complete unfamiliarity with the al., 1981; Petty et al., 1983). This has been were measured in two ways in this study: Animated PSA.) done by manipulating the levels of per- sonal relevance for the same advertise- • The persuasiveness that they attrib- Experimental Procedure ment in different experimental groups, uted to the Fruit PSA (Gelb and Pickett, Children were asked to fill in their demo- with such words of explanation as “This 1983) graphic details during their free period. public-service campaign is going to be • The likelihood of their choosing fruit They then were taken to a viewing room telecast/not going to be telecast in your when faced with a hypothetical snack- in groups of 10 each and shown one of state.” food choice situation (Goldberg et al., the Fruit PSAs. At the completion of the In the current study, because the two 1978). viewing, they returned to their classroom different PSAs with presumed levels of to complete the questionnaire. difference in personal relevance were A single-dimension variable meas- being compared, the research team ured the level of persuasiveness of both Study Variables and Measures decided to create a statistical measure. Fruit PSAs by asking children about their Most of the variables for this study were Child-friendliness, a single-dimen- level of agreement with the following measured using a four-point scale: (1) sion variable, was used to measure the statement: “All children would con- completely disagree; (2), disagree; (3) level of child-relevance in both PSAs sider eating fruit after viewing this agree; and (4) completely agree. This form by asking children about their level of advertisement.” of evaluation is supported by academic agreement with the following statement: Children’s snack choice was measured literature that states that a four-point “This advertisement is for children like by giving children the following hypo- scale is a maximal level of discrimination me.” thetical situation: “Imagine that your

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parents have to go out for dinner this both the attitude measures (See Table 1) the mean CFSCORE for both the PSA evening and have asked a baby sitter to and behavioral intention measures (See groups. take care of you. Since the baby sitter does Table 2): However, when the entire com- not know what you eat for your evening bined study sample was categorized • P1a proposed that perceived “child- snack after school, she offers you the fol- into High CFSCORE (score = 3, 4) friendliness” of the Fruit PSA sig- lowing snack choices. Which one will you and Low CFSCORE (score =1, 2), and nificantly would influence children’s choose?” with the respondents offered another independent-samples t-test attitudes toward the PSA. This propo- four options: bar of chocolate; Nutella was conducted, the results showed sition was supported in the case of both toast; fruit salad; an apple. These hypo- that the mean score for FRUTAD (atti- the groups. CFSCORE explains 18.6 thetical snack choices were coded into tudes toward Fruit PSA) was signifi- percent of the variance in FRUTAD for two categories: unhealthy/sugary (bar cantly higher for the sample with the the Classic PSA and 10.7 percent of the of chocolate, Nutella toast) and healthy High CFSCORE. This result cannot be variance in FRUTAD for the Animated (comprising fruit salad and apple). reported here, however, as the sample PSA. with Low CFSCORE constituted only

Pre-test • P1b proposed that the Animated Fruit 20 percent of the total combined sam- In a preliminary phase of research, the PSA will produce higher feelings of ple. The results do indicate the need for final French questionnaire was pre-tested “child-friendliness” compared to the further research to better examine this among 20 children to ensure the children Classic PSA and, therefore, will have issue. comprehended the questions. There were a stronger influence on children’s atti- • P2a proposed that children’s atti- no problems observed, a likely finding as tudes toward the PSA. This hypothesis tude toward the Fruit PSA will influ- some of the scales/questions already had was not supported, as the Independ- ence their attitude toward fruit after been used in France/Belgium (Pecheux ent-samples t-test showed that there exposure to the PSA for both types of and Derbaix, 2002; Van-Assche, 2005). was no significant difference between PSAs. This proposition was supported.

ANALYSIS AND RESULTS The data analysis was carried out in four Table 1 phases. Regressions for Attitude Variables Classic Fruit PSA Animated Fruit PSA • The first phase examined the proposi- tions P1a, P2a, P2b, P3a, P3c, P4a, and Independent Variable R 2 P-Significance R 2 P-Significance P4b using simple regression analysis. Predicting attitudes toward fruit PSA • The second phase examined the propo- Child relevance 0.186 <0.01 0.107 <0.01

sitions P3b and P3d using the Chumpi- Predicting attitudes toward fruit taz and Vanhamme (2003) moderator Attitudes toward fruit PSA 0.378 <0.01 0.052 <0.05 variable procedure. • The third phase examined P1b, using an independent-samples t-test. Table 2 • The fourth phase examined P5 and P6 Regressions for Behavioral Intention Variables using a combination of simple regres- Classic Fruit PSA Animated Fruit PSA sion analysis and the Chumpitaz Independent Variable R 2 P-Significance R 2 P-Significance and Vanhamme moderator variable procedure. Predicting persuasion Attitudes toward fruit 0.376 <0.01 0.075 <0.05 Attitudes toward fruit PSA 0.273 <0.01 0.182 <0.01 The results of simple regression anal- ysis for both groups of children (one Predicting choice exposed to the Classic PSA, the other Attitudes toward fruit 0.154 <0.01 0.069 <0.05 exposed to the Animated PSA) follow for Attitudes toward fruit PSA 0.081 <0.01 N.S.

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FRUTAD explains 37.8 percent of the CHOICE for the Classic PSA, and 6.9 PSAs. This hypothesis was supported, variance in AFTERFRU for the Classic percent of the variance in CHOICE for as the relationship was significant PSA, and 5.2 percent of the variance the Animated PSA. in case of both the groups. FRUTAD in AFTERFRU for the Animated PSA. explains 27.3 percent of the variance in • P3d proposed that children’s attitude As the relationship is significant in the PERSUASION for the Classic PSA and toward fruit after exposure to the Fruit case of both the groups, proposition 2b 18.2 percent of the variance in PER- PSA will have a similar influence on also was supported. SUASION for the Animated PSA. their hypothetical choice of snack foods • P3a proposed that children’s attitude for the evening, in the case of both the • P4b predicted that children’s attitudes toward fruit after exposure to the Fruit Classic PSA and the Animated PSA, as toward the Fruit PSA would influence PSA will influence children’s percep- the moderating effect of PSA famili- their hypothetical choice of snack foods tions of the persuasiveness of the PSA. arity will be offset by the impact of for the evening, for both the PSAs. This proposition was supported in the child-relevance of the PSA. As P3c was This hypothesis was partially sup- case of both the groups. AFTERFRU supported for both the groups, this was ported, only in the case of the Classic explains 37.6 percent of the variance in tested using the Chumpitaz and Van- PSA. FRUTAD explains 8.1 percent of PERSUASION for the Classic PSA, and hamme (2003) t-statistic moderator test the variance in CHOICE for the Clas- 7.5 percent of the variance in PERSUA- calculated using the unstandardized sic PSA, whereas the relationship is not SION for the Animated PSA. regression coefficients, standard errors, significant for the Animated PSA. and mean square residuals of both the • P3b proposed that children’s attitude regression equations. The hypothesis The results of simple regression analysis toward fruit after exposure to the Fruit was supported, as the t-statistic was for both age groups of boys and girls (one PSA will have a similar influence on the lower than ABS (1.96), indicating no between the ages of 8 and 9, the other persuasiveness of the PSA, in the case significant differences between the two between the ages of 10 and 11 years) for of both the Classic PSA and the Ani- groups. the attitude toward Fruit PSA measure mated PSA, as the moderating effect (See Table 3) follow. of PSA familiarity will be offset by the • P4a proposed that children’s attitudes impact of child-relevance of the PSA. As toward the Fruit PSA would directly • P5 proposed that perceived “child- P3a was supported for both the groups influence their perceptions of the per- friendliness” of the Fruit PSA will but, with apparent differences in suasiveness of the PSA, for both the the regression coefficients, this was tested using the Chumpitaz and Van- hamme (2003) t-statistic moderator test Table 3 calculated using the unstandardized Agewise and Genderwise Regressions for Attitude Toward regression coefficients, standard errors, Fruit PSA and mean square residuals of both the regression equations. The hypothe­ Younger Older sis was supported, as the t-statistic was Independent Variable R 2 P-Significance R 2 P-Significance

lower than ABS (1.96), indicating no Predicting attitudes toward fruit PSA for the classic PSA significant differences between the two Child relevance N.S. 0.207 <0.01 groups. Predicting attitudes toward fruit PSA for the animated PSA • P3c proposed that children’s attitude Child relevance 0.251 <0.01 N.S. toward fruit after exposure to the Fruit Boys Girls

PSA will influence their hypothetical Independent Variable R 2 P-Significance R 2 P-Significance choice of snack foods for the evening. Predicting attitudes toward fruit PSA for the classic PSA This hypothesis was supported in the Child relevance 0.236 <0.01 N.S. case of both the groups. AFTERFRU Predicting attitudes toward fruit PSA for the animated PSA explains 15.4 percent of the variance in Child relevance 0.155 <0.05 N.S.

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Table 4 in PERSUASION for the younger age group, and only 7.5 percent for the Agewise Regressions for Behavioral Intention Variables older age group.

Younger Older This hypothesis was partially sup- Independent Variables R 2 P-Significance R 2 P-Significance ported for CHOICE. In the case of the Predicting persuasion for the classic PSA Classic PSA, ATTFRUI explains 35.4 Attitudes toward fruit 0.223 <0.01 0.566 <0.01 percent of the variance in CHOICE for

Predicting persuasion for the animated PSA the older age group, but the relation- Attitudes toward fruit 0.376 <0.01 0.075 <0.05 ship is not significant for the younger age group. In the case of the Animated Predicting choice for the classic PSA Fruit PSA, conversely, the relationship Attitudes toward fruit N.S. 0.354 <0.01 between ATTFRUI and CHOICE was Predicting choice for the animated PSA not significant for either of the age Attitudes toward fruit N.S. N.S. groups.

CONCLUSION significantly influence children’s atti- CFSCORE explains 15.5 percent of the The principal objectives of this study tudes toward the PSA, but the relation- variance in FRUTAD for the boys, but included the following: ship will be moderated by children’s the relationship is not significant for age as the contextual relevance of the the girls. • An examination of how the principles PSAs may be different for both the of child-oriented marketing can be age groups. This hypothesis was sup- The results of simple regression analysis used to enhance the personal relevance ported. In the case of the Classic PSA, for both age groups of children (one for 8 of PSAs for fruit targeted at children CFSCORE explains 20.7 percent of the to 9 years, the other for 10 to 11 years) are • To enhance the way health-oriented variance in FRUTAD for the older age given for both the behavioral intention PSAs are perceived (and utilized) by group, though the relationship is not measures (See Table 4). children in the formation of nutritional significant for the younger age group. attitudes and behaviors (i.e., snack In the case of the Animated Fruit PSA, • P6 proposed that the relationship choices). conversely, CFSCORE explains 25.1 between attitudes toward the Fruit PSA percent of the variance in FRUTAD and children’s intention and behavior To this end, it was hypothesized that for the younger age group, though the toward fruit consumption in the form the use of popular elements from child- relationship is not significant for the of (1) perceptions of the persuasiveness oriented advertising would add a cogni- older age group. of the PSA and (2) children’s hypotheti- tive component of “child-relevance” or P5 also proposed that perceived cal choice of snack foods for the evening “likeability” to PSAs about fruit—consid- “child-friendliness” of the Fruit PSA will be moderated by children’s age. erations that would aid in forming posi- will significantly influence children’s This hypothesis was not supported tive attitudes toward PSAs. attitudes toward the PSA, but the for PERSUASION as the relationship This has been supported by the results relationship will be moderated by appeared different for both groups, but of the study as the child-relevance score children’s gender as the contextual the moderator test could not be con- of both types of Fruit PSAs had a signifi- relevance of the PSAs may be differ- ducted owing to the unequal size of the cant and positive influence on children’s ent for both the genders. This hypoth- groups. In the case of the Classic PSA, attitudes toward those PSAs. esis is partially supported. In the case ATTFRUI explains 22.3 percent for the The Animated Fruit PSA however, did of the Classic PSA, CFSCORE explains younger age group and 56.6 percent of not score higher than the Classic PSA 23.6 percent of the variance in FRUTAD the variance in PERSUASION for the on “child-friendliness” as hypothesized for the boys, though the relationship older age group. In the case of the Ani- (See Table 1). An explanation is provided is not significant for the girls. In the mated Fruit PSA, similarly, ATTFRUI for this when one reviews literature and case of the Animated Fruit PSA, also, explains 37.6 percent of the variance research examining the relationship

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It is suggested that people in individualistic cultures predict their future intentions to consume fruit, both as measured by their perceived will be more influenced by promotion-focused persuasiveness of the communication and by their hypothetical snack choices. messages or messages that talk about attaining It was also hypothesized that the relation- ship would not be stronger in the case of positive outcomes after purchasing/consuming the Classic PSA, as suggested in the litera- ture, because the high degree of child rel- the advertised product. evance in the Animated PSA would offset the impact of familiarity in the existing French government campaign. between Hofstede’s cultural dimensions a higher cultural relevance for French The results supported this. The Ani- and advertising messages (Aaker and children than the Animated PSA, which mated PSA was genuinely designed Lee, 2001; Kim, 2006; Reardon et al., 2006). exaggerates the positive benefits of eating to be very child-relevant (although its It is suggested that people in individu- fruit. This, in turn, may add to the child- reported CFSCORE was not significantly alistic cultures will be more influenced relevance scores for the existing French higher owing to cultural issues) and, by promotion-focused messages or mes- campaign and make them similar to the hence, worked as well as the Classic PSA sages that talk about attaining positive more child-friendly campaign. in terms of indirectly influencing future outcomes after purchasing/consuming Regrouping of the sample according to behavioral intentions in children by the advertised product. the “child-relevance” scores given to the leading to the formation of strong posi- Additionally, people in collectivistic two Fruit PSAs provided some more ten- tive attitudes toward fruit. This furthers cultures will be more influenced by pre- tative support for the importance of mak- the contention—using CBS’s “Fat Albert vention-focused messages or messages ing pro-nutrition messages relevant to and the Cosby Kids” TV program as an that talk about the negative outcomes children, as it showed that children who early example—that using animation that can be avoided by purchasing/con- found higher levels of relevance in the and comedy to hold children’s attention suming the advertised product. PSA message had more positive attitudes and entertain them while delivering pro- Similarly, research shows that people toward the PSA. Future research needs to nutrition messages can be successful in in low uncertainty avoidance cultures examine this finding. changing children’s snack-food prefer- will be more influenced by promotion- Another objective of this study was to ences to less-sugary and healthy choices focused messages whereas people in high test a model for the effectiveness of chil- (Goldberg et al, 1978). uncertainty avoidance cultures will be dren-targeted PSAs about fruit, studying Further, the results of the study show more influenced by prevention focused the relationship between attitudes toward that children’s attitudes toward Fruit messages. public-service advertising for fruit and PSAs also will have a significant direct Examining France on Hofstede’s cul- attitudes toward fruit and behavioral impact on children’s future intentions to tural dimensions, one realizes that France intentions, keeping in mind the addi- consume fruit, both in terms of their per- is an individualistic culture (with a score tional impact of “child relevance” and ceived persuasiveness of the communica- of 65) but also a culture that is charac- “PSA familiarity” (See Figure 1). tion and their hypothetical snack choices. terized by very high uncertainty avoid- All but one of the research propositions The absence of a significant relationship ance (with a score of 80). It, therefore, is was validated in this study; and even the between children’s attitudes toward Fruit a country wherein both promotion- and last proposition was supported partially. PSAs and their hypothetical snack choice prevention-focused public-service mes- Children’s attitude toward the Fruit PSA in the case of the Animated Fruit PSA sages may be relevant but with higher was found to influence their attitude appears to be somewhat justified when likelihood of acceptance of the preven- toward fruit after exposure to both for the one examines the cautionary suggestion tion focus. Classic and the Animated PSA. that the strength of the direct relationship Therefore, the French government’s Similarly, the results indicated that between attitudes toward advertising Classic PSA, which speaks about eating children’s attitudes toward fruit after and purchase intentions is questionable less fat- and sugar-laden foods, may have exposure to the PSAs would significantly (Phelps and Hoy, 1996).

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The fourth objective of this study was There are not many instances of official nutritional to conduct a deeper examination of the interrelationships in the basic child- education initiatives that can claim to have either oriented Fruit PSA effectiveness model using children’s age and gender as they significantly lowered the rates of childhood obesity or may impact upon and will thus act as moderators of the various relationships. significantly increased the consumption of fruit and The results suggested that this could be possible although there was no direct vegetables among children. moderating effect found. Younger children and boys appeared to find the Animated PSA with the elves/ centaur football match more engaging (Wang, 2006) for children aged 10 years apples—the fruit present in both PSAs and contextually relevant as suggested and older, as they may perceive that executions—as their snack. by Wang (2006) than older children and they are too old for cartoons. Governmental organizations that have girls. Those preferences may influence been formed primarily to disseminate the relationship between personal or IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC POLICY health and nutrition messages to children child-relevance­ and attitudes toward the There are not many instances of official in their respective countries also should Fruit PSA in some way, as this relation- nutritional education initiatives that can take note of the effectiveness of the ship was only significant for the former claim to have either significantly lowered Fruit PSA created by France’s Program groups. the rates of childhood obesity or signifi- National Nutrition Santé. This campaign Further, although both the Classic cantly increased the consumption of fruit already has found relevance among its and Animated PSAs produced attitudes and vegetables among children (see Fro- target audience by incorporating bright toward fruit consumption that affected bisher et al, 2005; Murray, 2001; Seaman colors, an appealing child protagonist, upon younger and older children’s per- and Kirk, 1995, for detailed critiques). and engaging animation and music. A ceptions of fruit, these attitudes only This study used research from France campaign with higher child-friendliness affect children’s hypothetical snack to support the notion that the best way to or relevance may work even better. choices in the case of older children. The create effective public-service campaigns Some of the differences in results relationship between attitudes toward on nutritional issues for children is to between the Classic and Animated PSAs fruit after PSA exposure and hypothetical use elements from popular and commer- may provide support for the proposition snack choice is not significant for either of cial food advertising targeted at children. that governmental organizations promot- the PSAs for younger children, indicating Such techniques result in higher personal ing the cause of health and nutrition need that younger children may find it difficult relevance of the advertising message for to spend proportionate amounts of com- to show attitude-behavior consistency the child, which, in turn, can lead to more munication budgets in comparison to (Roedder et al., 1983). careful processing of the nutritional mes- companies advertising sugary, fat-laden, Finally, for the Animated PSA, the sage (e.g., Petty et al., 1983) and greater and unhealthy snacks and foods to make only significant relationship—according consistency between nutritional attitudes their communication campaigns as famil- to the PSA effectiveness model—was and behaviors (e.g., Sivacek and Crano, iar to young children as those popular for the older age group of children’s 1982). food advertisements are (Goldberg et al., attitudes toward fruit after PSA expo- This study also confirms the reason 1978). sure and perceptions of how persuasive behind the success of early pro-nutrition Understanding the link of attitudes the PSA is in making children want to initiatives carried out by commercial toward ads (and behavioral intentions, in consume fruit in the future. This could television programs such as CBS’s “Fat particular) would assist in the develop- imply that the Animated Fruit PSA with Albert and the Cosby Kids” in the 1970s ment of PSAs covering a variety of areas the football match between the child (Goldberg et al., 1978.) In fact, results of ranging from road safety to health and elves and the centaurs could be found the study show that approximately two- nutrition (Phelps and Hoy, 1996). This less engaging and contextually relevant thirds of the children studied had chosen study extends concepts from the field of

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This study extends concepts from the field of an impact upon the perceived ‘child- relevance­’ of the Fruit PSAs by possi- advertising effectiveness into the arena of PSAs. bly mitigating the differences between them, as has been discussed earlier. Future research focusing on an examina- tion of the impact of ‘child-relevance’ in advertising effectiveness into the arena cognitive ability when compared to older nutritional PSAs should take care in this of PSAs. It also provides validation of children. Because of this, the results of respect. the proposed relationships, in the French this study may not apply to very young Finally, there also were differences in context, with PSAs that are aimed at children. Future research should look at the time duration of the two PSAs: the encouraging children to eat fruit. examining the effectiveness of PSAs for Classic PSA lasts just 20 seconds; the This study provides preliminary vali- Healthy Eating habits, even among very Animated­ PSA is more than two min- dation of the fact that characters and young children, because they are also utes long. Such temporal differences may communication campaigns with similar at high risk of obesity due to continued actually be an advantage rather than a levels of child-appeal or child-relevance exposure to attractive messages for sug- limitation, however, with respect to chil- (as termed in this study) to animated ary and unhealthy foods and snacks. dren’s future intention to consume fruit. brand spokespersons such as Joe Camel The third limitation of this study con- Appropriately designed program-length (or those cartoon characters depicted in cerns the differences between the two television material­ (such as CBS’s “Fat popular food product packaging) can be types of PSAs for Fruits used for the Albert and the Cosby Kids” show) can created and will prove effective in con- study. There were four types of differ- more effectively influence children’s eat- veying public service messages to young ences in the two Fruit PSAs which could ing habits than the short advertisements children. be limiting for the study. First, the French that they normally see (Goldberg et al., It also would serve public-service government Fruit PSA was a finished 1978). It also may be useful to examine communication professionals well to be campaign created by professionals, while if the “Fat Albert” approach (with 24 cautious and judicious in the use of child- the Animated Fruit PSA was created by minutes of programming) could be effec- friendly animated characters to convey the authors themselves, using video clips tively adapted to a more practical PSA- messages to children. Although an ani- from Cartoon Network UK and dubbing length format (Goldberg­ et al., 1978). The mated spokesperson may work very well and adapting them into French using current study provides some preliminary­ to promote an issue, creating an entire computer software. Second, the French support for this. The two minutes of the campaign just using animated characters, government Fruit PSA, although not as Animated PSA exceed the traditional tone, and manner may lead to a loss of ‘child-friendly’ in execution as the other, 30- or 60-second­ length of most PSAs but relevance for older children. was more familiar to the French children still were effective­ in influencing both as they would have viewed it on televi- children’s attitude toward fruit as well as LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR sion prior to the study, whenever it was their snack consumption­ behavior. This FUTURE RESEARCH last broadcast, although it was difficult to illustrates that the approach of creation­ First, this study uses a small-sample size find official data to confirm how far back of “message relevance” in nutrition- and needs to be supplemented by large- that was. The Animated Fruit PSA on the education­ campaigns can work well even scale studies using bigger sample sizes other hand was very ‘child-relevant’, but in a shorter format. and different types of PSAs. also unfamiliar for the French children. Second, the results of the study can- Third, the literature suggests that the not be generalized to all children, even in French government’s Fruit PSA may be Childhood obesity France. Children below the age of eight more culturally relevant than the new years were not included in this study Fruit PSA adapted from the Cartoon Net- driven by nutritional because of academic debate and specula- work, as this has a prevention-focused tion about their inability to understand message which is more applicable given imbalances in nutrition is the persuasive intent of communication, the French tendency to avoid any kind which is linked to differences in their of uncertainty. These two limitations had a global concern.

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• This study can be extended into a large- Ruben Chumpitaz Cáceres is full professor and head Goals in Information Processing and Persua- scale study of similar types of PSAs of the marketing department at the IÉSEG School of sion.” Journal of Consumer Research 28, (2001): also highlighting other public-service Management, LEM UMR 8179, France, and affiliate 33–49. concerns such as consumption of veg- professor at the ESAN University, in Lima, Peru. He etables, cigarette smoking, excessive received his MBA in 1995 and PhD in 1998, both AFSSA. “Obésité de l’enfant : impact de la consumption of alcohol, or consump- from the Louvain School of Management at the publicité télévisée.” AFSSA (Agence Française tion of drugs, using similar concepts Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. de Sécurité Sanitaire des Aliments). (2004) such as target audience “relevance.” Prior to entering academia, Dr. Chumpitaz • Additional research could examine the worked several years in management in the Arias-Bolzmann, Leopoldo, Goutam use of a special animated character or telecommunication industrial sector and, for almost Chakraborty, and John C. Mowen. “Effects of spokesperson to convey positive pub- 15 years, he has served as an analytical consultant Absurdity in Advertising: The Moderating lic-service messages in the health and for marketing research projects and agencies. Role of Product Category Attitude and the nutrition or anti-addiction arena. Chumpitaz’s research focuses on service Mediating Role of Cognitive Responses.” Jour- • Future research should examine the quality, customer satisfaction, brand loyalty, service nal of Advertising 29, 1 (2000): 35–49. role played by cultural context in recovery, and market orientation. His research effectiveness­ of pro-nutrition cam- has been published in academic and professional Austin, v. d., e. n. Ruble, and T. Trabasso. paigns—especially those aimed at chil- journals such as the Managing Service Quality, “Recall and Order Effects in Children’s Moral dren—by examining different types of International Review of Retail, Distribution and Judgements.” Child Development 48, (1977): nutritional messages and public serv- Consumer Research, European Business Forum, 470–474. ice advertising appeals across cultures. European Journal of Marketing, Recherché et Application en Marketing, and Annals of Operations Childhood obesity driven by nutri- Batra, Rajeev, and Michael l. Ray. “How tional imbalances in nutrition is a glo- Research. Advertising Works at Contact.” In Psychological bal concern­. Processes and Advertising Effects: Theory Research Antoine Cousin completed his masters degree and Application, L. F. Alwitt and A. A. Mitchell, in marketing in 2007 from the IÉSEG School of eds. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Elbaum Associ-

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