In this video, DeeAnn Roullier, marketing research manager for Cargill, lays out the findings of new consumer research conducted by the company. Among the findings was the idea that the food decision makers in families, when making their purchase decisions, are much more motivated by the idea of "family friendly" as opposed to "kid friendly." They more often buy food to fit the needs of everyone in the family, to cover all the bases so to speak. So Roullier said it could be short sighted for a manufacturer not to pay attention to how their food is view by kids and how it meets their needs because consumers are looking at their purchases from a whole family approach. So even if a company is not marketing their directly at kids, consumers may be evaluating it on that basis.
Roullier said Cargill's research also shows that parents, surprisingly, are less likely to turn the package over and read the nutrition facts panel than are consumers in general. So they seem to be gleaning most of their nutrition information from front of the package messaging, so Roullier said the data show that's where manufacturers should highlight information that they want parents to see.