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How marketing matters to fussy eaters

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How marketing matters to fussy eaters

Marketing is a huge part of our world. Even if we don’t feel we get sucked in by it, we are still surrounded by 1,000 messages telling us what to buy, how to feel and what’s important.

The commercial world has also become a bigger part of our lives through social media where truly we cannot escape messaging and noise!

Marketing can be a negative influence on our children, but it can also be used to our advantage.

How marketing matters to fussy eaters

When a child looks at a food they are going to do an analysis based on the way it looks and its smell.

These two parameters are important but a child’s view of how something is going to taste is also based on branding, labelling, packaging, and other variables like when and where the food is served and their previous experiences.

Let’s look at how some of these ‘triggers’ work and how to both best get around the negative aspects of marketing and also how to leverage some of these factors to our advantage:

1. ‘Selling’ to children. Food manufacturers put focus on building recognition for their products. Colour often plays a big role. Products that are aimed at young children are often brightly coloured with images that appeal.

Often picky eaters can become very fixated on a brand. They know even as toddlers that they like an exact food from a certain pot, which is a specific colour or has a recognisable image or pattern.

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To get around this, a great idea is to make sure that foods are not associated with only one brand. Not serving foods in the pot or having the jar on the table, for example, can help with this.

Parents who do have children who are stuck on a specific brand will tell you how much of a pain brand specificity can be!

If your child is already fixated on a particular brand it can take time and effort to move away from this, but it can be done.

I remember speaking to a mum who was determined to support her son to eat more than one brand of chicken nugget. To do this, she served his favourite brand plus one piece of a new brand next to it every time she served them for his meal.

Two months after persevering with this, one night her son picked up the new nugget, ate it and declared it okay. It took time and effort but was possible.

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2. ‘Selling’ to parents. Manufacturers also spend a lot of time making food sound like something you must feed to a child (even if this is not entirely true).

Older children, who do find food more challenging, can also start looking at labels and either accepting or rejecting foods based on what is listed.

3. Using icons. Famous people or popular characters are frequently used to both catch the eye and encourage shoppers to take one brand over another. Many foods aimed at children have favourite Disney characters or the latest TV star on the packaging.

Like branding, this can work against us as a child can become hooked on one specific pot or jar.

However, it can also work for us. We can use the same concept to make foods more appealing. Having a spiderman sticker on an apple or gluing a Frozen picture on the outside of a mini pottle that we put raisins in, can make that food more appealing. Research backs this up.

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Research also shows that children can be swayed by what their peers are doing.

If there are children who are doing positive things on YouTube, on the TV or in a book, it can be supportive for your child to see what they are doing.

Watching other children or cartoon characters eating veg or other foods that may be a stretch for your child may just support them to take an otherwise difficult step.

For some children cooking shows plant ideas and start them thinking differently.

4. Situational factors. Food is often eaten because of how, when or with who it is served.

There are many fussy children who eat better at creche or Kindy. There are others who will eat something with nanna but not with mum or dad.

Sometimes a child is willing to eat new foods with friends that they would not tackle at home.

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If a child does eat better somewhere else than with us, it is a great sign. Yes, it is frustrating, but it is also a good thing! It means that they are able to do more than they show us.

A good way to approach this is to think carefully about what is happening away from home that supports them to eat more widely. Is it because nanna always bakes with them? Is it because the Kindy teacher sits with a child when they are having their snack?

What, if anything, can we replicate at home that will help them to eat more?

Studies have shown that how food is served can make a big difference to the way we perceive it. For example, if we served a blue drink in a plastic cup it could well make us think “mouthwash”. Whereas if we served the same blue drink in a cocktail glass, we would think “sweet”.

As the parent of a fussy eater this can be used to advantage as well. How can we serve a food in a way that creates a positive association? Can we, for example, put it into an ice cream cone or a fancy bowl?

5. Parent marketing. The way that parents approach food and feeding can have an enormous impact on how well a child eats. In fact, when I work with families, this is the first thing we work on.

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There are many ways we can support a child to eat well and conversely it is really easy to inadvertently shoot oneself in the foot without realising it.

I know that a lot of parents will ask their child “do you want to try this?” when offering them a new food only to be told a consistent no. Obviously if you do ask this way and it works, go for it. But many picky eaters are pre-programmed to say no 😊

Now, do I think we should consistently give a child the opportunity to eat something new? Absolutely! But there are ways that we can do this that generally work better than others.

The definition of a fussy eater is a child who isn’t fond of new foods. The more anxious or stubborn they are around food, the more likely they are to reject something new without even considering it.

Which is why asking they would they like to try it is almost inviting the no response.

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Instead, supporting them to get gradually and gently used to a new food in a low-pressure environment and then set it up so tasting it is almost a natural progression often works really well.

An example of this may be baking/making something they are excited about with them, but without the expectation to eat whatever is being made. At the end, they may just be a little more willing to have a taste.

How marketing matters to fussy eaters may be more important both positively and negatively than we’ve considered. Let’s set out to make it work in our favour!

Judith, MA Cantab (Cambridge University), Post Grad Dip Psychology (Massey University), is an AOTA accredited picky eating advisor and internationally certified nutritional therapist. She works with 100+ families every year resolving fussy eating and returning pleasure and joy to the meal table.
She is also mum to two boys and the author of Creating Confident Eaters and Winner Winner I Eat Dinner. Her dream is that every child is able to approach food from a place of safety and joy, not fear.
Learn more about Judith here: https://theconfidenteater.com/about/

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