Published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine this August, a new study has proposed that healthy and nutritious foods if provided with Elmo stickers on them can see their increased intake by people, especially children at schools.

Cornell University researchers have revealed the same after taking out a trial on school-going children. David Just and colleagues have reached the conclusion that branding of a product, whether it is a cereal or an apparel or a food item, makes people find it more attractive and worth spending on.

Some 208 New York children of ages 8 to 11 years were recruited by the team from the Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition Programs. They were provided with apples and cookies for five days with Elmo or other character-stickered ones in middle days and non-stickered ones on initial and final days.

It was found that stickers whether Elmo or else, had similar effects but products without stickers were least liked. Thus, it is being suggested that healthy chows should be sold with ‘spokescharacters’ on them as these encourage the choice of healthy snacks amongst children.

"We tend to associate mascots and characters with junk food, but they can also be used to build excitement around healthy foods”, said marketing author Brian Wansick to conclude.