THE IMPACT OF MARKETING ACTIVITIES ON CHILDREN'S HEALTHY FOOD CHOICES

Purpose: Within marketing and consumer research, prior studies have often tackled children's decisions concerning food in a fragmented manner, either by looking solely at attitudes or behaviours. Such an approach restricts the comprehensive comprehension of children as consumers. This study examines how marketing actions (specifically, the word claim used) help encourage children to prefer healthier choices. Design/methodology/Approach: 215 children, aged 6 to 9, took part in a simulated food choice task, with participants drawn from two schools in Zagreb. Parents gave their written informed consent for their child's involvement in the study. Findings and implications: The results emphasise the significant role of specific word claims like „healthy", „popular" and „tasty" or emoticons „smiley“, „heart“ and „muscle“ in influencing children's food choices. Utilising these claims increases the likelihood of children opting for healthier food options. These insights hold practical implications for crafting interventions that promote healthier eating habits in children. Limitations: Hypothetical food choices may not fully represent children's behaviours in real-life settings. Exploring alternative labelling strategies beyond word claims would allow for comparisons and identification of effective methods to motivate healthy choices. Originality: By investigating the impact of marketing activities on children's healthy food choices, this study introduced an innovative perspective, focusing on the effectiveness of word claims and emoticons as labelling strategies. These results enhance our comprehension of the factors influencing children's dietary decisions and provide a basis for developing interventions to cultivate healthier eating habits.