Table 4.

Proposed future research questions regarding brand mascot and media character influence on children's diet and health

Thematic topic	Future research questions
Theoretical framework	What are the theoretical underpinnings and specific mechanisms used by marketers to encourage children to develop parasocial relationships with popular mascots and cartoon media character that promote food products?
Moderating factors	How does a child's age, sex, race and ethnicity influence his/her diet-related cognitive, behavioural and health outcomes related to food products promoted by popular brand mascots and cartoon media characters? How does a child's obesity status (e.g. healthy weight versus overweight or obese) influence his/her preference for and response to foods that are branded with popular mascots or cartoon media characters?
Mediating factors	How does a child's cognitive development stage influence his/her preference for certain brand mascots and media characters? Are there any measurable differences in how children respond to brand mascots versus cartoon media characters? How do the design characteristics of mascots or characters (e.g. colour, shape, animation and eye contact with young consumers) appeal to children to promote product awareness, character and product association, character recognition, food or character recall, food preference, purchase request, food choice, food intake and brand loyalty? What are effective auditory cues (e.g. music, jingle and message content) and visual cues (e.g. packaging, labelling, composition and positioning in food-retail outlets and restaurants) used with mascots or media characters to influence children's food brand recall, product or brand association, food preferences and choices? How do children interpret promotional messages in a food-retail setting when they see certain media characters (e.g. Sesame Workshop's Elmo promoting apples in the produce aisle) promote messages about a healthy diet and other characters (e.g. Walt Disney Company's Miss Piggy endorsing Chocolate Honey Nut Cheerios in the RTE cereal aisle) promote foods that do not support a healthy diet? What are appealing and effective auditory or visual messages that can accompany mascots and characters viewed by children to increase their preference, selection and intake of healthy foods? Under what circumstances could mascot or character branding have a long-term influence to improve children's diet quality to reduce their obesity risk? What actions can parents take to encourage the use of mascots and media characters to promote healthy dietary choices (e.g. fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy products and water) and healthy food environments for their children?