FARK.com: (8206991) The reason your kid always wants the sugary cereals isn't due to commercials or taste; it's due to the fact the cereal box has a life-size face on it with eyes staring at a 9.6 degree angle, which is perfect to make eye contact with children

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		The reason your kid always wants the sugary cereals isn't due to commercials or taste; it's due to the fact the cereal box has a life-size face on it with eyes staring at a 9.6 degree angle, which is perfect to make eye contact with children ( cnbc.com)		49
		More: PSA, shmeat

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3698 clicks; posted to Main » on 04 Apr 2014 at 10:16 AM (4 years ago) | Favorite | share:

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antron

2014-04-04 10:19:19 AM

RedfordRenegade

2014-04-04 10:19:54 AM

I wonder if the same reason I like the POV porn? That always looks down too? Pretty creepy indeed.

Agnes Gonxha's Confidant

2014-04-04 10:20:30 AM

As someone else mentioned: If you display them as being pointed down then they're pointed down regardless of where you are so kids would still see the eyes pointed down.

Monkey

2014-04-04 10:20:44 AM

Yeah, that's it. It has nothing to do with the words "chocolate", "cinnamon", "honey" or "frosted".

Embden.Meyerhof

2014-04-04 10:22:37 AM

This doesn't make sense to me, because if the image isn't looking at "you" from one angle, it won't be looking at "you" from any angle then.

durbnpoisn

2014-04-04 10:22:45 AM

This just in: Kids love cartoon characters, and companies have been using them to sell products like breakfast cereal since it was invented.

What I find REALLY absurd about this is that someone did a study on it. A study that proves what the advertiser's intentions were all along. In other words, the people designing those boxes KNEW what they were doing. You'd almost think it was an intentionally effective advertising gimmick.

devilEther

2014-04-04 10:26:31 AM

If they put this image on the box I would eat their sugary cereal until my teeth rotted away.

durbnpoisn

2014-04-04 10:29:19 AM

Agnes Gonxha's Confidant: As someone else mentioned: If you display them as being pointed down then they're pointed down regardless of where you are so kids would still see the eyes pointed down.

I think the idea is that the characters are looking at the kids from the parent's point of view. They are the ones with the money after all. So the psychological impact is something like, "the kid and the character appear to be looking at each other. I must buy this cereal."

ringersol

2014-04-04 10:32:03 AM

TFA: " the perfect angle to make eye contact with a child standing in the aisle"

assuming we know the height of the child, the height of the shelf, the distance of the child from the shelf, whether the child is in the cart or not, etc. To say nothing of whether the eyes are looking laterally, or the child is positioned laterally...

Why not just say "they're looking down so they're *more likely* to be looking at the child?" Because that's all they tested when they put the "perfect" angle up against the same face with eyes looking straight ahead. Trying to pass off "9.6 degrees" as a "perfect angle" makes the author sound like an idiot. or a rube. or an idiot rube.

And beside all that, the kids want the sugary cereal because of the sugar. You can put cereal in nondescript containers and they'll prefer the sweeter food. It's kind of an evolutionary _thing_.
The branding might help make them prefer one sugary cereal to another, but if all it took was cartoon eyes looking slightly down, vegetables would come in such packaging and parents would be showering gifts on the brain trust who connected those dots.

buckler

2014-04-04 10:34:44 AM

Monkey: Yeah, that's it. It has nothing to do with the words "chocolate", "cinnamon", "honey" or "frosted".

I liked it when they were honest.

I don't have that "resizing" thing down. Mea Culpa.

SordidEuphemism

2014-04-04 10:38:11 AM

"They... they drew him at a downward angle?"
"It means there were two artists. Now, now, stay with me..."

RyansPrivates

2014-04-04 10:38:28 AM

I read that as surgery serials and was thinking of Marcus Welby, MD.

/off to yell at clouds
//onion on my belt, that is the fashion
///off my lawn

RedfordRenegade

2014-04-04 10:40:35 AM

"Sugar Bits" only have 6g's of sugar. Damn, when I was a kid I wouldn't even get out of bed unless I had some 10+ g's of high test stuff laying around.

GoldDude

2014-04-04 10:44:06 AM

Well no wonder my cereal launch failed... my illustrator used a 9.4 degree angle.

hej

2014-04-04 10:46:48 AM

Good thing I don't just go buying whatever the hell my kid wants when I'm at the store.

EdgeRunner

2014-04-04 10:48:49 AM

devilEther: [img.fark.net image 450x420]
If they put this image on the box I would eat their sugary cereal until my teeth rotted away.

Do you buy a lot of women's magazines like Cosmo? That's pretty much the cover of all the ones I see in the grocery store checkout lane.

buckler

2014-04-04 10:50:27 AM

I'm just wondering how they calculated the angle. To my mind, it seems you's have to have an actual, three-dimensional roughly spherical eyeball, then calculate the "downward-looking" angle based on a horizontal axis through the center. How do you do that with two-dimensional, non-spherical cartoon eyes?

Attention Whore of Babylon

2014-04-04 10:54:38 AM

RedfordRenegade: "Sugar Bits" only have 6g's of sugar. Damn, when I was a kid I wouldn't even get out of bed unless I had some 10+ g's of high test stuff laying around.

Maybe they sugar-coated dog food or something to lower the carb count.

durbnpoisn

2014-04-04 10:56:26 AM

hej: Good thing I don't just go buying whatever the hell my kid wants when I'm at the store.

I don't know how old your kid is, but I can tell you that never seems to stop.
My daughter is almost 13. If she even gets a hint that I'm going to the store, she's like, "what'ya gonna get for me?!"

buckler

2014-04-04 10:57:21 AM

durbnpoisn: hej: Good thing I don't just go buying whatever the hell my kid wants when I'm at the store.

I don't know how old your kid is, but I can tell you that never seems to stop.
My daughter is almost 13. If she even gets a hint that I'm going to the store, she's like, "what'ya gonna get for me?!"

"Dust and pain."

MooseBayou

2014-04-04 10:57:54 AM

Would it work on these kids?

bborchar

2014-04-04 11:01:49 AM

My kids will turn down every sugary cereal for plain Cheerios. Even I can't eat plain Cheerios (I get honey-nut Cheerios for my husband and myself), but they won't eat it.

Now, of course, they beg for candy and chocolate the rest of the day, but at least I don't have to fight about breakfast with them.

spawn73

2014-04-04 11:02:39 AM

Monkey: Yeah, that's it. It has nothing to do with the words "chocolate", "cinnamon", "honey" or "frosted".

Correct, it doesn't.

devilEther

2014-04-04 11:08:35 AM

EdgeRunner: devilEther: [img.fark.net image 450x420]
If they put this image on the box I would eat their sugary cereal until my teeth rotted away.

Do you buy a lot of women's magazines like Cosmo? That's pretty much the cover of all the ones I see in the grocery store checkout lane.

That must be why I keep going back to the grocery store.

karnal

2014-04-04 11:12:36 AM

Silly_Sot

2014-04-04 11:14:39 AM

I've worked at a grocery store. If this alleged "study" were valid, that would mean that kids have to take multiple passes through an aisle at multiple levels. Sorry, but no kid who is walking is so short as to be below the boxes of sugar on the bottom shelf.

flynn80

2014-04-04 11:15:10 AM

devilEther: If they put this image on the box I would eat their sugary cereal until my teeth rotted away.

I'd probably even eat the box.

inner ted

2014-04-04 11:39:42 AM

flynn80: devilEther: If they put this image on the box I would eat their sugary cereal until my teeth rotted away.

I'd probably even eat the box.

Louisiana_Sitar_Club

2014-04-04 11:41:24 AM

You can tell that the sugar content is low from the angle of the eyes.

buckler

2014-04-04 11:42:47 AM

flynn80: devilEther: If they put this image on the box I would eat their sugary cereal until my teeth rotted away.

I'd probably even eat the box.

DontMakeMeComeBackThere

2014-04-04 11:43:04 AM

Bullshiat. Yeah, the eyes have nothing to do with "Looking at the child", and everything to do with looking "normal" or "connective". Eyes looking straight ahead look disconnected, aloof, distant...not inviting.

litespeed74

2014-04-04 11:47:01 AM

all the cereal I begged for when i was a kid I no longer want as an adult.

I'll sometimes buy a box of fruit loops but end up throwing it out.

I miss Team Flakes.

OnlyM3

2014-04-04 11:48:20 AM

ftfa

parents should think about not taking their children down the cereal aisle.

Correction
parents should learn to say "no" to their children.

Diocletian's Last Cabbage

2014-04-04 12:11:00 PM

In before...

Clemkadidlefark

2014-04-04 12:12:16 PM

Apparently a powerful mix of hypnotism and insensibility. With extra voter fraud ..

EdgeRunner

2014-04-04 12:30:40 PM

I wonder what the researchers would make of this...

"Buy this cereal, or Mr. Spock will MELT YOUR FACE OFF."

buckler

2014-04-04 12:36:47 PM

litespeed74: all the cereal I begged for when i was a kid I no longer want as an adult.

I'll sometimes buy a box of fruit loops but end up throwing it out.

I miss Team Flakes.

In autumn, I have an irresistible urge to buy "Boo-Berry", which is only offered then. It was a favorite cereal as a kid, though I'm mostly now a "Raisin Bran" man.

DrunkWithImpotence

2014-04-04 12:47:54 PM

buckler: Monkey: Yeah, that's it. It has nothing to do with the words "chocolate", "cinnamon", "honey" or "frosted".

I liked it when they were honest.

[2.bp.blogspot.com image 850x804]
[theharriedmom.com image 300x400]

[d3hjf51r9j54j7.cloudfront.net image 844x791]

[www.mrbreakfast.com image 312x435]

[www.mrbreakfast.com image 323x417]

I don't have that "resizing" thing down. Mea Culpa.

There was a time before our current notions of nutrition when sugar was considered healthy, believe it or not. You'll see some vintage boxes extolling the virtues of the energy it gave kids to get the day going.

jacknifetrucker

2014-04-04 01:03:17 PM

When I was a kid I could pick one sweet cereal a month,it always came down to who had the best prize in the box. Still eat cap'n crunch now though.42 yrs old.

TetrisBlock

2014-04-04 01:08:25 PM

It's not even that I don't want the cereals I had as a kid, but they don't even make them anymore.

Donkey Kong was like Cap'n Crunch, but was barrels. And it was awesome. As was Nerds cereal, even though it was the same idea as mario/zelda cereal. Pac-Man cereal was okay. Batman cereal was good, too! Also, GI Joe Action Stars.

MugzyBrown

2014-04-04 01:13:06 PM

I taught my 2 year old to say "They're great!" while sticking up his finger.

He does it now whenever we pass Tony the Tiger in the cereal aisle

It's quite cute

That is all

/parents buy the cereal, not the kids

TheOriginalEd

2014-04-04 01:13:25 PM

Dont be farking stupid its not any one specific thing. Its a farking cacophony of marketing research and chemistry designed to specifically get inside your child.

MugzyBrown

2014-04-04 01:23:31 PM

TheOriginalEd: Its a farking cacophony of marketing research and chemistry designed to specifically get inside your child

Pedobear,inc?

RembrandtQEinstein

2014-04-04 01:38:18 PM

Grape nuts, because I hate myself

Lokkii

2014-04-04 01:40:15 PM

Sigh....this kind of nonsense is why I have pretty much lost faith in "Science" these days. Any old nonsense passes for 'science' these days. They are leaping to all sorts of conclusions bases on their assumptions.

First of all, these wankers assume that the kids get to make the buying decisions. Nope. Mom does. In Japan, beer packaging in grocery stores is aimed at catching the attention of Mom, cause she does the shopping.

Next they leap to assumptions on how the kids feel about the boxes based on their survey data. Increased trust in a face? How about this idea: Humans, like animals, don't like faces that stare at them. Staring is perceived as threatening. Looking downward is non threatening....to mom who is doing the shopping.

Yeah, I am drawing different conclusions from the data, based on -my- assumptions but I will bet money, my theory is just as statistically as what has been presented as SCIENCE - you don't dare question it - SCIENCE

Colour_out_of_Space

2014-04-04 02:02:05 PM

DrunkWithImpotence: buckler: Monkey: Yeah, that's it. It has nothing to do with the words "chocolate", "cinnamon", "honey" or "frosted".

I liked it when they were honest.

[2.bp.blogspot.com image 850x804]
[theharriedmom.com image 300x400]

[d3hjf51r9j54j7.cloudfront.net image 844x791]

[www.mrbreakfast.com image 312x435]

[www.mrbreakfast.com image 323x417]

I don't have that "resizing" thing down. Mea Culpa.

There was a time before our current notions of nutrition when sugar was considered healthy, believe it or not. You'll see some vintage boxes extolling the virtues of the energy it gave kids to get the day going.

Well, back then kids needed the energy for their shift at the mine.

Also:

WTF?
"Hey, Art Department, we need a cartoon character for Frosted Sugar Stars. What have you got?"

Um...tiger? Been done. Rabbit? Cliche.
I know! A GOAT WITCH!

/I know it says, "Hillbilly Goat" but that includes just as much whatthefarkery

AteMyBrain

2014-04-04 04:21:33 PM

So, when you look at a one-dimensional image of a face looking down, and you get below it, it's then looking directly at you? It's not just a view from a different angle of a face looking down?

Huh...

hej

2014-04-04 04:31:54 PM

RembrandtQEinstein: Grape nuts, because I ~~hate myself~~ love chewing gravel

SirMadness

2014-04-04 08:07:56 PM

my childhood favourite.

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