A study supported by Georgetown’s Reflective Engagement in the Public Interest grant has determined that children who play online games promoting healthy foods and beverages appear more likely to choose nutritious snacks than those playing games promoting unhealthy products.
The research, featured in the July issue of
Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine -- one of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) /Archives journals, focused on young people’s use of advergames. The online computer games, developed specifically to promote a brand, often feature logos and characters and are present on many food and beverage Web sites.
Studies show obesity rates among U.S. children and adolescents have rapidly increased over the past 40 years, and authors of the July report, including Georgetown psychology professor
Sandra Calvert cite media as a contributor to the increase.
“One potential contributor to the rise in obesity is media exposure, primarily because television advertising markets high-calorie foods and beverages that have little nutritional value,” the authors write. “We know far less about how newer media influence children’s food preferences, but Internet use is a very popular activity among youth aged 8 to 18 years. Marketers have taken notice of this online revenue-generating opportunity in which exposure to products costs less than traditional television advertisements and legal restrictions and regulations are virtually nonexistent.”
Calvert, who also serves as director of the
Children’s Digital Media Center at Georgetown, conducted a study involving 30 low-income, African-American children ages 9 to 10. Calvert says numerous studies have shown low-income African-American children impacted by obesity at a higher rate than those from most other racial or ethnic groups.
“Children from low-income households live in neighborhoods that have fewer supermarkets and many fast food restaurants and convenience stores,” says Calvert. “Thus, what they see marketed to them is reflected in their environment, making junk food a stronger influence in their lives.”
One group played a game based on popular 1980s video game Pac-Man, which rewarded the children for having their computer character choose bananas, orange juice and other healthy foods and beverages. A second group played a different version of the game that instead rewarded the consumption of soda, candy bars, cookies and bags of potato chips.
These two groups were instructed to select a snack from among options featured in the game after playing, while a third control group selected a snack and beverage before playing the healthy version of the game. The children reported liking both versions of the game and played for an average of nine minutes and 32 seconds.
Children who played the healthy version before selecting a snack were found to select a banana and orange juice over soda and potato chips than the children playing the unhealthy version.
“With only 10 minutes of exposure, our results revealed that children selected and ate whatever snacks were being marketed by the advergame, healthy or not,” Calvert and co-author Tiffany Pempek, now an assistant professor of psychology at Otterbein College, write.
The findings suggest that public concerns about online games that market unhealthy foods are justified, the authors note, but also that the technology could be used to promote nutritious foods.
“Promoting healthy foods through advergames could help children choose and consume healthier foods and beverages, potentially countering some of the negative influences of the high caloric, low nutrient foods that are typically advertised to them,” says Calvert.
Despite concerns that low-income children do not have Internet access, children in the study reported being online daily or at least several times per week.
“Overall, our results suggest that reaching low-income African American children via the Internet is feasible and that the use of advergames is a potential way to alter their eating habits in favor of more nutritious foods,” the authors conclude.
