Candy Games Influence Kid’s Appetites

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Many have seen or played the game Candy Crush on popular social media sites like facebook, but what does playing these games do to children who spend much of their free time on computers, phones or watching TV?

A recent behavioral science study from Ph.D. Frans Folkvord, at Radboud University, discovered that games that promote or embed food advertisements increase children’s appetites to candy or the food being promoted.

The study looked at the behavior of over 1000 children who shortly after playing a candy game were 55 percent more likely to eat the candy offered to them than the children who had played a game embedded with toy ads.

Folkvord warns that only six percent of children are aware of such advergames are actual advertisements, and that these games do affect their behavior. He is quoted in the review of the study that he believes this type of advertising should be banned. Children in the study that were advertised to were reported to have eaten 72 calories more than the children in the control groups.

Latino kids are more likely to consume sugary drinks, and ads for unhealthy foods and beverages have increased between 1991 and 2008.

More studies are being done to see how marketers are advertising to children, but just 1% of food ads on Spanish TV show water, fruits, or veggies, according to a study by the UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, Salud America!

Folkvord’s study went on to show that children are not aware that this type of gaming is advertising and that heavier children are more sensitive to food advertising in general.

To learn more about this study, click here.

To see how you can take action against unhealthy ads, click here!