Experts, peers, or celebrities? The role of different social endorsers on children’s fruit choice

Alice Binder, Brigitte Naderer, Jörg Matthes

Veröffentlichungen: Beitrag in FachzeitschriftArtikelPeer Reviewed

Abstract

This study investigates whether the source providing nutritional information matters for children's choice of fruit over candy. We conducted a between-subject experimental study with children (6-11 years; M-age = 8.20; N = 340). Children watched an audiovisual cartoon with nutritional messages provided by experts (expert condition), by celebrities (celebrity condition), or by typical consumers (peer condition). Additionally, we included a control group in which children were not exposed to any cartoon. As the dependent variable, we measured children's fruit choice over candy. As a mediator, measuring message processing we included children's argument awareness. Children's age was included as a moderator. The results indicate that the experimental conditions were equally effective in creating argument awareness for healthy eating compared to the control group. Children's argument awareness was generally rather low, and it did not influence children's fruit choice over candy. Nevertheless, there was a direct effect of the expert condition on children's fruit choice, pointing to an internalized "expert heuristic". No moderating effects of children's age were present. Our study indicates that using experts to present nutritional information within narrative media content is a potentially successful strategy to create argument awareness for healthy food and to impact children's selection of healthy food whereas peer and celebrity social endorsers are not.

OriginalspracheEnglisch
Aufsatznummer104821
Seitenumfang9
FachzeitschriftAppetite
Jahrgang155
DOIs
PublikationsstatusVeröffentlicht - 1 Dez. 2020

ÖFOS 2012

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