Marketing

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Running head: MARKETING TO CHILDREN
Marketing to Children:
Organic and Nonorganic Cereals
Melissa Ballentine, William Repko, & Robby Scott
COM 3930: Media, Culture, & the Environment
April 20, 2011

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Within the field of marketing, no one element or topic receives as much as focus as the
marketing mix, better known as the four p’s. Arranged alphabetically, the four p’s represent the
following: place, price, product, and promotion. Whether professionals are attempting to market
an entire brand or only an item within a brand, marketers must address each of the four p’s to
create a favorable purchase environment. In dealing with place, marketers must assess when and
where they will choose to sell their products. Then, using the supply of and demand for their
products, marketers must select a sales price that will maximize revenues. No revenues will be
collected, however, unless marketers are sure the product they are selling is desirable and
reliable. Finally, marketers use promotion to address methods and techniques for creating
consumer awareness of, desire for, and purchases of their products.
In today’s society, promotion, especially advertising, dominates our culture. It is almost
impossible to walk down a city street, read a local magazine, or even use a university restroom
without being bombarded with advertisements. While some advertisements promote non-profit
interests such as physical health or environmental sustainability, the overwhelming percentage of
ads are run to generate more sales for products. Of the for-profit interests that advertise, the food
industry has played the most significant role in making advertising so dominant in our society.
During the past six weeks as part of our discussion of media culture and the environment,
we have learned a great deal about the American food system. The materials written by Robert
Cox, Sut Jhally, and Michael Pollan have led us to naturally question the actual contents of the
food we eat, but those same readings have also caused us to question what makes us purchase
one food product over a similar, almost identical product. Of course, the general, obvious
answer to the latter is marketing strategies and promotion tactics. Yet, wanting a more fulfilling

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answer regarding this aspect of the food industry, we were immediately intrigued when presented
with the idea of analyzing the marketing strategies used by cereal manufacturers to appeal to
children.
Though the idea of researching the marketing strategies employed by children’s cereal
manufacturers is certainly a step toward understanding the marketing methods of our food
system, a more specific research basis is necessary to make more sustainable conclusions.
Therefore, our research is based on the following question: Do the ways nonorganic cereals
market to children differ from the ways organic cereals market to children? The academic
portion of our research will focus on the following: general and food specific marketing
techniques to appeal to children and their parents, nonorganic cereals’ marketing techniques to
appeal to children, organic cereals’ marketing techniques to appeal to children, comparisons of
these techniques, and our conclusions. Finally, for the purposes of this study, a child is
considered any individual less than thirteen years of age.
By the end of the second month of a child’s life, he or she has already become exposed to
the consumer environment (McNeal & Ji, 2003, p. 400). Even at this early age, a child has
interacted with the world of consumerism through in-home, outdoor, and in-store advertising.
Thus, it becomes no surprise that a child is requesting specific products by brand name by the
age of two (p. 401). Knowing that children are demanding products by age two certainly gives
companies the incentive to market to toddlers and even infants. While it may be surprising to the
average individual that companies spend millions of dollars targeting those who were born only
weeks prior, educated marketers know this is a key period in gaining brand loyalty.
For food marketers, there are two targets for promoting food to children. The first is
obviously the child, and the second is the child’s parents. In a child’s earliest years, he or she

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develops his or her own preferences, but with no purchasing power and only limited input, the
child’s parents choose the majority of food products that a child intakes (G. Smith, 1997, p. 4).
Thus, marketers must be aware of the factors that influence parents’ purchases. The ultimate goal
of parents is to get their children fed; however, the objectives in doing so can vary widely across
individual families, regions, and cultures. Some of such objectives relate to the following
factors: cost, effort, nutrition, routine, conversation, and dining etiquette (p. 7). Knowing parents
make the purchases, marketers appeal to these underlying objectives, but they are also careful to
allot budget funding to appeal to the desires of the child. As stated above, children are
requesting brand name products by age two, and one of the first foods they solicit is cereal
(McNeal & Ji, 2003, p. 401).
In appealing to children’s desires for cereal, marketers focus predominantly on two areas:
the product and its packaging. For those children under six years of age who are yet to enjoy
“self-purchasing independence,” marketers must continue to appeal to both parents and children
(G. Smith, 1997, p. 122). To appeal to children based on the cereal product, most cereal
companies highlight its sweetened taste. Since the launch of Sugar Crisp by Post Cereals in the
1950s, presweetened cereals have emerged as children’s preferred type of cereal (Bruce &
Crawford, 1995, p. 106). Despite reports showing no strong correlation among tooth decay,
obesity, and presweetened cereal, hundreds of thousands of parents elect not to purchase
sweetened cereals for their children (p. 260). Instead, these parents purchase cereals that readily
promote health benefits (p. 231).
The goal of cereal marketers is to position its brand within children’s consideration sets
so that when a child thinks of cereal, he or she thinks of that particular brand (McNeal & Ji,
2003, p. 401). To accomplish this, cereal marketers depend on several aspects of marketing, but

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no one area is as significant as the cereal’s packaging. Top executives expect the cereal box to
carry the majority of the workload in promoting the cereal’s image, and as a result, package
design has become a $100 billion dollar industry (p. 402). When analyzing packaging across
brands, the most important factors of the exterior of any cereal box are copy, color, structure,
graphics, and characters (p. 402). While copy should be large, colors bright, and graphics
familiar, these factors are menial when compared to the substantial leverage carried by characters
associated with the cereal (Acuff, 1997, p. 31).
In the years preceding a child’s sixth birthday, the popular appeal of characters is
extremely effective in creating a favorable attitude about different cereals (G. Smith, 1997, p.
124). In a 2003 study by McNeal and Ji that asked 125 elementary students to draw a cereal box,
nearly 40 percent of the children included a spokescharacter in their drawings (p. 412). This
number was significant, for of the 93 ready-to-eat cereal brands analyzed, only 36 percent of the
boxes had spokescharacters (p. 413). With almost 60 boxes not containing a single
spokescharacter and close to 40 percent of the drawings showing a character, it is clear
characters such as Cap’n’Crunch and Tony the Tiger play a significant role in children’s cereal
choices. Furthermore, the use of familiar spokespersons is so effective that Kellogg’s, at the
request of consumer groups, has abandoned third-party licensed promotions in an effort to have
children choose food for its nutritional value rather than its emotional appeal (Charles, 2008).
To compare the marketing techniques of organic and nonorganic cereals, Trix nonorganic
cereal and Cascadian Farm’s Clifford Crunch organic cereal were analyzed. In an attempt to
keep an element of consistency within the study, two cereals within the same company—General
Mills—were chosen. General Mills was chosen completely at random during a research visit to a
local Publix Super Market. Publix was chosen as the site to select the cereals to be studied

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because of its wide product variety and its own natural/organic label GreenWise (R., 2005, p.
15). Using the front cover of each cereal’s box, the marketing techniques of both cereals were
compared based on the presence of the following: animated characters, other images, and
nutritional information.
Since children and characters seem to be “inseparably joined at the hip,” General Mills
made a profitable decision by incorporating an animated rabbit into Trix’s marketing scheme in
the late 1950s (Acuff, 1997, p. 9). Today, over fifty years later, Trix is still using the rabbit as
the main focus of its packaging. While the particular box that was analyzed in this study had the
rabbit emerging from a colorful bed of Trix cereal, the Trix rabbit has been illustrated in
countless ways over the years. No matter his positioning, the “silly” rabbit is always pictured in
some fashion to put smiles on the faces of young consumers (Bruce & Crawford, 1995, p. 207).
Keeping the rabbit on the box’s facing has also allowed for continuity within General Mills’
marketing scheme. Without the rabbit image on the box, children would not be as likely to
connect the “Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids” advertising campaign with the actual product.
In 2005, seeing the success of animated characters on the boxes of its nonorganic cereals,
General Mills decided to insert a familiar character onto the boxes of its organic cereal line
Cascadian Farm (Thompson, 2005). In fact, the company went a step further as it not only
inserted Clifford the Big Red Dog onto the product’s facing but also into the product’s official
name (Kirsche, 2005, p. 47). “Clifford Crunch” features a big red lovable Clifford dominating
the right side of the box along with a smaller depiction of his human friend Emily Elizabeth and
her two smaller dogs. Due to struggling revenues from promoting its cereals primarily on its
natural features, Cascadian Farm inserted Clifford with the hope that his character would provide
the connection to America’s youngest shoppers (Thompson, 2005). With their insertion of

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Clifford onto their cereals’ packaging, Cascadian Farm reaffirmed the conclusions of the McNeal
and Ji study reference above.
Besides the Trix rabbit, three other main features, or images, stand out on the Trix cereal
box. These include the brand “Trix” in big, colorful writing; a bed of colorful Trix cereal; and a
bright red background. From the box analyzed, these three features use the following colors:
blue, green, purple, red, and yellow. While those unfamiliar with marketing principles may
believe those colors were chosen at random, those more familiar with food marketing know
those colors were specifically selected. Research studies consistently show that the favorite
colors of children are blue, green, purple, red, and yellow (G. Smith, 1997, p. 123). Therefore, if
children are not attracted to Trix by its rabbit, then General Mills plans to attract them with the
most appealing color display available.
Despite the words Clifford Crunch being written in a bolded pink font with a bright blue
background, its cereal box is a form of “green” marketing. Green marketing, or a “corporation’s
attempt to associate its products, services, or identity with environmental values and images,” is
recognized primarily in the top third of this cereal’s box (Cox, 2010, p. 335). Inside green
marketing, there is no more significant representation of the environment than the color green,
and Clifford Crunch cereal certainly incorporates it.
In stark contrast to the red background of Trix, Clifford Crunch uses a white background.
Of course, this allows big red Clifford to stand out, but, more importantly, it allows the green
features of the box to be easily recognized by parents. Placed on a forest green background, the
words “Cascadian Farm” and “organic” easily emerge in white and yellow fonts respectively.
Right above this text is a circular frame with an image of planted farmland and the mountains of
the Upper Skagit Valley, Washington. In addition to attracting those adults who want the most

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natural, healthy foods for their children, Cascadian Farm hopes to also attract those individuals
who purchase green products as their way of contributing to a more environmentally friendly
society. This purchasing strategy, known as green consumerism, is employed by hundreds of
thousands of Americans daily. Despite consumers’ good intentions, such purchases do not
necessarily make society more green, for buying these products supports a manufacturing and
distributing cycle that still burns increasing amounts of oil and emits ever more pollution (T.
Smith, 1998, p. 21).
The final comparison that was drawn between the two box facings is the differences in
their promotions of nutritional benefits. On Clifford Crunch’s facing, Cascadian Farm promotes
its organic content in two ways. First, the word organic is placed in large, yellow font under
Cascadian Farm’s brand name. Second, the United States Department of Agriculture organic
seal is located in the lower left hand corner of the box. For a company to insert this seal on its
products, it must refrain from the use of genetically modified organisms, pesticides, growth
hormones, etc. It must also abstain from these techniques for three years prior to receiving the
seal, and the product must contain at least 95 percent organic ingredients (Rubino, 2010, p. 31).
Thus, when consumers purchase Clifford Crunch, they are receiving one of the most natural
cereals the industry offers.
Whereas Clifford’s Crunch promotes its organic contents, Trix cereal highlights its use of
whole grains. In a blue strip that has become standard to the top of General Mills’ cereals, the
words “Whole Grain Guaranteed” are printed in yellow and white fonts. With this promotion,
Trix is also trying to promote the naturalness of its cereal. However, the production standard for
carrying the “Whole Grain Guaranteed” promise is much less stringent than the requirements for
the USDA organic seal. To be considered whole grain, the only requirement is that the food

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product must have all three edible parts of its original grain: the outer bran layer, the endosperm,
and the germ (Harriman, 2009, p. 67). Therefore, as long as all three parts are present, the food
item can be processed in any way and still be considered whole grain (p. 67). As a result of this
guideline, General Mills can legally promote its cereals as more natural and environmentally
friendly to compete with truly natural cereals, such as Cascadian Farm’s Clifford’s Crunch.
After analyzing the box facings of Trix and Clifford Crunch based on the presence of
animated characters, other images, and nutritional information, it can be concluded that the
nonorganic and organic cereals differ in the ways each markets to children. Of the discrepancies,
the biggest differences come in the area of other images. Whereas Trix cereal uses bright colors
in its background and brand formatting, Clifford Crunch uses a simple white backdrop so that its
organic labeling, rural imagery, and other green marketing techniques can easily emerge. The
two cereals also differ in the types of nutritional value each promotes. Clifford Crunch proudly
places the USDA organic seal on its facing, and, in an attempt to also appeal to health conscious
consumers, Trix boasts a much less significant “Whole Grain Guarantee.” As far as animated
characters are concerned, the cereals are similar. While one is a rabbit and the other a dog, both
brands have studied the research, such as that provided above, and understand the most
successful children’s cereals are those with characters that children can easily recognize.
Of the four components of the marketing mix, this study focused on promotion and
product. For future study of the differences in how organic and nonorganic cereals market to
children, one may choose to also include the factors of price and place. Additionally, the above
research honed in on two cereals within General Mills, Inc. For future research, analyzing
nonorganic and organic cereals across the four major cereal distributors—Kellogg’s, Quaker
Oats, Post, and General Mills—should provide more in-depth results. Finally, interviewing

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marketing professionals within these brands would provide perhaps the best perspective of the
factors influencing organic and nonorganic marketing.

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