The Impact of Misleading Visual Elements on Children’s Food Packaging Design in Retailing Process

Abstract

In recent years, foods which are mainly consumed by children have sprung up. The cost of children's snacks has become one of the important expenditure items of families, and children's snacks have an increasing proportion of children's meals. The food safety problem has been paid more and more attention by the media and the common people. In an interview with China Press and Publication News, the vice president and secretary-general of the International Food Packaging Association said: "With the deepening of the concept of 'food packaging is equal to food', the safety of food packaging has gradually been paid attention. However, the safety problems of food packaging materials for children are ignored by regulations, standards and the market.” In addition to the packaging materials, the graphic design elements on the packaging are also an important part. Because the design elements on the packaging are the language of communication with consumers, when consumers buy food, they learn about the product through the packaging first, and check the ingredient list or not after. Since Neeley and Petricone studied that Most children do not read products’ nutritional information (unless they are bored while eating them) and do not make choices based on this information (Neeley & Petricone, 2006). Therefore, it is important to generalize which factors are misleading for children.