The excess consumption of unhealthy snack foods by children and young
adults has been shown to increase their rate of development of obesity, as
well as decrease their likelihood of meeting current U.S. nutritional
recommendations. Nutritional messages on snack food product labels have
been traditionally evaluated almost exclusively from the perspective of the
verbal content of the message. While such messages are important for
communicating factual information, they do not address the potential
significance of the visual qualities of that message in appropriately
communicating with the target audience. The visual properties of the
nutritional messages are critical in their ability to immediately create a
sense of importance, trustworthiness, and social acceptance by the target
audience. The role of design factors on snack packages is not well
researched, particularly from the standpoint of influencing selection and
snack food choice in children. The objective of this research is to examine
the role of typography, images, brand and health messages, and stylistic
treatments with regard to their ability to impact the visual communication of
packages to children ages 9-13. From these design variables, the
“preferred-selections” of these children were identified. In addition to
gaining information about the role of these design variables on children’s
decision-making process, the role of health and nutrition messages were
also evaluated with regard to their impact on children’s decision-making.
The ultimate goal of this research is to develop a health communication
strategy for snack packages and to develop a methodology for tailoring
messages to children ages 9-13 that encourages the selection of healthy
snack food options.
DRS 2012 Bangkok
