Table 2.

Children’s reasons for recommending cartoon videos.

Emergent themes	Direct quotes
Dietary knowledge gains	“They’re funny and help you learn more about what to eat if you want to eat healthy and stay healthy.”
Dietary knowledge gains	“Because people need to eat better and I think that this is a good way to help people see that it is good to eat fruit and veggies.”
Vicarious learning via character identification	“The people are brown skinned like me.”
Vicarious learning via character identification	“Because they are cartoons and kids can relate to them and it might get the point across about healthy eating.”
Vicarious learning via character identification	“Because some of my friends are fat and they have big bellies.”
Influential for both mother and child	“Because some moms do not want their children to have diabetes.”