Mulligan, ChristinePotvin Kent, MoniqueVergeer, LauraChristoforou, Anthea KL'Abbé, Mary R2023-08-152023-08-152021Mulligan, C., Potvin Kent, M., Vergeer, L., Christoforou. A., L’Abbé, M. (2021). Quantifying child-appeal: the development and validation of a methodology for evaluating child appealing marketing on product packaging. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 18, 4769. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph180947691660-4601https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/9/4769http://hdl.handle.net/10393/45267https://doi.org/10.20381/ruor-29473There is no standardized or validated definition or measure of "child-appeal" used in food and beverage marketing policy or research, which can result in heterogeneous outcomes. Therefore, this pilot study aimed to develop and validate the child-appealing packaging (CAP) coding tool, which measures the presence, type, and power of child-appealing marketing on food packaging based on the marketing techniques displayed. Children (n = 15) participated in a mixed-methods validation study comprising a binary classification (child-appealing packaging? Yes/No) and ranking (order of preference/marketing power) activity using mock breakfast cereal packages (quantitative) and focus group discussions (qualitative). The percent agreement, Cohen's Kappa statistic, Spearman's Rank correlation, and cross-classification analyses tested the agreement between children's and the CAP tool's evaluation of packages' child-appeal and marketing power (criterion validity) and the content analysis tested the relevance of the CAP marketing techniques (content validity). There was an 80% agreement, and "moderate" pairwise agreement (κ [95% CI]: 0.54 [0.35, 0.73]) between children/CAP binary classifications and "strong" correlation (rs [95% CI]: 0.78 [0.63, 0.89]) between children/CAP rankings of packages, with 71.1% of packages ranked in the exact agreement. The marketing techniques included in the CAP tool corresponded to those children found pertinent. Pilot results suggest the criterion/content validity of the CAP tool for measuring child-appealing marketing on packaging in accordance with children's preferences.enAttribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/child-appealing marketingfood marketingfood packagingmarketing powermarketing techniquesmarketing to kidsmixed methodsproduct packagingvalidationArticle10.3390/ijerph18094769