Cereal, the food of the gods. Who can resist the crunchy, sugary deliciousness in a box? Kids (admit it - adults too) would eat it for every meal if they had the chance.

 

But have you ever wondered why you choose the cereal that you do? Did one in particular catch your eye? 

 

See, there’s a heck of a lot of money that goes into marketing, especially products made for kids, and especially cereal. Fruit Loops, Coco Pops, Frosties - what do they all have in common? Those happy spokes characters on the box suggest to us how delicious the cereal is with their inviting facial expressions! It’s almost like they’re gazing right into your eyes telling you to pick them up and put them in your trolley. 

 

Now one group of people who understand the importance of eye contact are marketers. And there’s a very specific reason why cereal companies place their sugary breakfast food (if we can call it food) on the lower shelves: prime real estate for kids with hungry eyes. 

 

A 2015 study led by Professor of Marketing, Brian Wansink, aimed to take an even closer look at ways in which cereal companies could persuade children to beg their parents for their products. The study was aptly named “Eyes in the aisles: Why is Cap’n Crunch looking down at my child?” It’s a great name, we’ll give them that. 

 

They already knew about the warm and fuzzy feelings spokes characters ignited in kids. What they wanted to know was, what precise angle did they need to draw their eyeballs to create direct manipulative eye contact with children in the grocery store? 

 

You’d think marketing to kids would just be a matter of whacking a bunch of colour on a box and stamping it with a happy cartoon character. But no. Apparently it comes down to trigonometry. 

 

The study was a bit outrageous really. A stupidly complicated three-step process to determine the exact eye contact angle, followed by a very loose interpretation of data and some fairly unsubstantiated claims. 

 

Like, there are actual problems in the world. And then there's this. But hey, they say breakfast is the most important meal of the day (you know who actually invented that saying? Dr. John Harvey Kellogg! Father of breakfast cereals! How’s that for an undeclared bias!?). 

 

So, do cereal sales actually increase if a spokes character locks eyes with a child in the cereal aisle?

 

Or does the creepy eye contact make you feel watched, observed, judged and subsequently want to make a healthier choice? Perhaps carob-flavoured steel-cut oats instead.

 

Also, what does a cereal box have in common with a Hindu god?

 

PREVIOUS EPISODES MENTIONED:

• Food Hacks or P Hacks: The Dodgy Insights of Brian Wansink

 

SOURCES:

• Musicus, A., Tal, A., & Wansink, B. (2015). Eyes in the aisles: Why is Cap’n Crunch looking down at my child? Environment and Behavior, 47(7), 715–733. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916514528793
• Cap'n Crunch is staring at your kid for a reason https://www.cnet.com/science/capn-crunch-is-staring-at-your-kid-for-a-reason/
• https://www.science.org/content/article/meet-data-thugs-out-expose-shoddy-and-questionable-research

 

IMAGE CREDITS:

• Toucan Sam: By Kellogg’s - Original publication: Froot Loops Marketing. Source: https://www.frootloops.com/en_US/meet-toucan-sam.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=69321050
• Coco Pop Monkey: By Kellogg’s. Fair Use. Source: https://www.kelloggs.com/en-za/products/coco-pops.html
• Tony The Tiger: By Kellogg’s, Daryl Graham - [1], Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57229360
• Snap, Crackle and Pop: By Kellogg’s. Fair Use. Source: https://www.creativereview.co.uk/snap-crackle-pop/
• Cereal Box Wallpaper in Thumbnail: Armando Olivo Martín del Campo, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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