It seems that all of that debate over the toys offered with kids' fast food meals by you know who (big fast-food chains that usually provide a quick and easy way for you to put on a few pounds, especially if you're in the habit of not watching what you eat), has also drawn the attention of scientists. "Collectible Toys Could Lure Children to Healthy Food Choices" says a recent study (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110919093844.htm).
What the researchers have done is they have offered a group of kids, aged 3 to 5, a high energy, high fat meal (the classical pizza, soda and fries) with either no toy, a toy or a collectible toy as bonus, and a healthier alternative (veggies, soup and low fat milk) with the same incentives on the side.
The results have shown that children will favor the meals with toys that are perceived as collectibles, rather than meals with no toys or regular toys. When offered the fast-food type meal and the healthier meal with a collectible, the percentage of children choosing the latter was close to that of the fast food choice.
Of course, as expected, when the children were asked to choose between the two types of foods without any toys, fast food was preferred. So, the scientists concluded, in a very consequential manner, that offering collectible toys with healthy food could help kids in developing a taste for this type of food.
As someone interested in healthy foods and a self aware lifestyle, I thought that this is great! Whatever helps other people steer towards a healthier life is awesome in my book. Sure, you may be bribing kids into eating a specific food, but in this case, some may think that it's not really a problem, for the end result does indeed justify the means.
While healthy foods taste heavenly to me, and fresh, raw vegetables (http://rawfoodhealthwatch.com/raw-food/) offer a very pleasant gastronomical surprise when prepared properly, convincing a child of the benefits of a balanced diet might prove similar to taking a horse to the water and trying to make him drink. And this is especially true when the other horses are apparently drinking from another bucket.
So why not use collectible toys to develop the child's taste for something other than high fat, high carbohydrate foods? Well, since the idea has proven to work both in theory and practice, trying to offer your kid a collectible with every broccoli dish, tomato soup or fruit, for as long as it takes to get them hooked on healthy food, might just sound a bit of a stretch for some of us. It just doesn't sound doable, unless you own your own little toy factory, does it?
Well, maybe the people growing and selling healthy food could use it as a marketing ploy, but how many organic food growers have the financial capability to see this through? Won't the fast food chains be using the same approach? Wait, they already are, so a bonus there for a head start.
And what about the toys themselves? I do not think that the reaction of a kid on food choices is as simple as a Pavlovian reflex – see the collectible toy, eat the food. What happens when the kid that got used to associating a collectible toy with a tasty meal sees that not only does fast food also have toys, but that it generally is more likely to come with toys than a fruit salad is. I'm just sayin'!
So in the end, while the idea itself might look noteworthy from a scientific point of view, I think I'll stick to the ancient technique of teaching my children that food awareness is actually important. And a word of advice to scientists - let's try to focus on educating kids more, rather than on bribing them with worldly things, shall we?
(On a side note, another recent study showed that kids with lean parents tend to be lean as well, so the power of example still works as well as ever.) And while I just might end up tricking my kids into eating one healthy dish or another on occasion, I don't think I'll make a habit out of it. It might just backfire.