i'm lovin' it...not!

From World, Timothy Lamer on the impact of brands and advertising on children...

McDonald's reportedly spends more than $1 billion per year on advertising in the United States, and a new study suggests that the company is getting its money's worth.

The study, conducted by Stanford University researchers [and published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine], found that when children between ages 3 and 5 were offered identical foods in a McDonald's wrapper and a plain wrapper, they consistently said that the food in the McDonald's wrapper tasted better.

Researchers offered the food to 63 children from six Head Start programs in San Mateo County, Calif., giving them chicken nuggets, hamburgers, and french fries from McDonald's and baby carrots and milk from a grocery store. On four of five items a large percentage of the children said the food items tasted better when they came in a McDonald's wrapper. On the fifth, children preferred the hamburger in a McDonald's wrapper but (oddly, for the fast-food chain's signature menu item) only by a plurality...

Children who went to McDonald's regularly and had numerous TV sets in their homes were most likely to prefer McDonald's-wrapped food...

Another reason to "kill your TV"