« WHAT BRANDS DO YOU EAT ? »

THE ROLE OF BRANDS WHEN CHILDREN

SHARE SNACK TIME WITH PEERS.

Valérie Hémar-Nicolas, Paris-Sud University, France

Mathilde Gollety –Panthéon Assas/Sorbonne university, France

CoralieDamay, ISC BusinessSchool, France

Pascale Ezan – Rouen University / Rouen Business School, France

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Context of the research

●Children live in a brandscape (Sherry, 1998).

●32 % of food brands consumed over childhood

are still consumed as children get adults (Credoc,

2010).

● Food brand relationship partly built over

childhood.

●The necessity of understanding the way children

build their relationship with brands…

… Within peer group.

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Conceptual background (1)

● Children and Food Branding

● Children’s brand understanding according to their

psychological development (John, 1999; McNeal and Ji, 2003;

Baxter and Lowrey, 2011).

● The influence of brand typicality on children’s food

decision-making process (Rouen-Mallet, 2002).

● No evidence that the more typical brand name is more highly

evaluated by children.

● Children’s preferences for familiar brand names (Levin and

Levin, 2010).

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Conceptual background (2)

● Food brand consumption within peer group

● Peers play a referent role in children’s consumer socialization

and especially in their consumption learning (Ward, 1974; Moschis

and Churchill, 1978).

● Children understand within peer group that brands can be

used to express their self-identity and to facilitate their social

integration (Elliott and Wattanasuwan, 1998; John, 1999).

● In the area of food consumption, some studies show that

peers can influence food preferences (Birch, 1980; Greenhalgh et al,

2009; Salvy et al, 2012).

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Very few works have focused on the influence exerted by

peer group on children’s food brand preferences and choices(Roper and La Niece, 2009).

But as children increasingly eat meals outside the family,

food brands are increasingly consumed within peer group (Kuntz et al, 2012; Persson Osowski et al, 2012).

=> Children may choose food brands according to their

social meaning (Delalande, 2004 ; Roper and La Niece, 2009).

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The research questions

1. Are food brands taken into account by

children when they share mealtime

together?

1. Are food brands a source of self-identity

and social recognition within peer group?

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Research method

● Qualitative methodology based on:

● The observation of 10 snack times.

● Focus groups.

● Material choice

● 9 food categories and 3 different beverage usually consumed

as snacks by French children and/or recommended by

nutritionists.

● 5 snack times with products which were unpacked / 5 snack

times with the same products but branded.

● Snack time procedure

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Branded snack time Unbranded snack time

● Data collection and analysis

● 10 video footages (four hours).

● 150 pictures taken before, during, and after the snack.

● Field notes written individually by each researcher.

● Integrally transcribed verbatim from discussions.

● Qualitative thematic discourse analyses, using video

footages to capture the intonation of voices and non-verbal

data.

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Research method

Findings (1)● Food branding, a familiar concept for all the children

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Food brands= means to distinguish products: « It [brand] helps

people not to confound the products » (g, 8).

The children perceive the differences between leading national,

retailer and discount brands: « The original brand for cola is Coca-

Cola™, for chocolate cookies it’s Pepito™ and otherwise there are copies”

(b, 9).

The children consider leading brands as the typical product in their

category: « Who wants another Yop™ ” says a girl while refering to a

Dia drinkable yogurt.

Food brand names = common language within the peer group

= frequently used by the children to speak about food

together

Findings (2)

● No influence exerted by peer group on children’s food

brand choice

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The children choose products according to their own taste

preferences – no attention to peer choices: “This is the flavor that I

prefer. I prefer strawberry. I don’t like raspberry very much” (g, 6).

Brand familiarity, built in the family setting, usually influences

preferences and choices: « I didn’t take [a cereal bar] because I didn’t

recognize it (g, 7) / I took this orange juice. That’s what we have at home”

(g, 10).

Food brands are not used to attract their peers’ attention and

gain their social recognition: « With clothes we have to show we’re

like others. But with food we don’t. There are different tastes » (g, 8).

The children sometimes use brands and their advertising

communication as a cultural resource to interact with their peers but

they do not influence one another.

Discussion

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● Children mostly select products according to their flavor whatever the brand

name is. They make individual decision and are hardly influenced by their peers.

● Children share the same understanding of food offering structured around a

typical brand.

● But typical food brands are not preferred by children.

● Brand familiarity and brand preference are correlated.

● Contrary to clothing brands, food brands, even consumed within peer group,

are not used by children to convey their identity and enhance social integration.

Practical implications

● Leading food brands should rethink their positioning in

order to cash in on their « status » of typical brand.

● Children’s brand familiarity and eating behaviors are

strongly influenced by the parents.

=> To fight against childhood obesity, public

policymakers as well as brand’s owners (as they are invited

by Michelle Obama) need to figure out actions that involve

both children and parents.

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Limitations and future research

●Presence of the researcher?

●To use ethnography to capture children’s behaviors in their

natural setting.

●The sample consisted of French children from affluent and

middle classes.

● To replicate the study with French children from various

socioeconomic backgrounds and with children in other

countries.

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Thank you very much for

your attention!

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