Background: Child-oriented packaged snack foods often display images that may imply they are natural or wholesome even though many of these products are ultra-processed, energy-dense and nutrient poor. Yet, while there are numerous specific policies to regulate text-based claims, regulations for front-of-pack imagery are relatively general.
Aims: To assess effects of front-of-pack food imagery on parent’s perceptions and purchasing intentions for child-orientated snack foods.
Method: N=800 adult parents/guardians of children aged 4-10 participated in an online experiment comprising four between-subjects food image conditions (no image; food photo; food cartoon; cartoon of children gardening) and two within-subjects snack type conditions (fruit; vegetable). Participants viewed then rated their assigned products on visual appeal, perceived healthfulness, suitability for their child, and purchase intentions. 4 (between-subjects) x 2 (within-subjects) mixed ANOVAs were performed on each outcome, with post-hoc pairwise t-tests with Bonferroni adjustment used to explore significant main effects. Multiple regression analyses examined how perception metrics predicted purchase intention within each condition, controlling for shopping habits and demographic factors.
Results: Overall, participants perceived the food photo condition most favourably: it outperformed the control condition across all metrics; outperformed both cartoon conditions in perceived healthfulness; outperformed the cartoon children condition in suitability and purchase intention. Participants also preferred fruit over vegetable snacks across all metrics, especially when the image was photorealistic. In terms of the predictive power of perception metrics, only visual appeal consistently predicted purchase intention across experimental conditions.
Conclusions: Imagery on packaged children's snack foods influences parent's perceptions and purchase intention of the product. Photographs of whole foods appear to be especially influential, suggesting parents may generalise from the front-of-pack imagery to the contents therein. Policy to regulate on-pack marketing of child-targeted foods should consider visual elements as well as text-based claims.