SKIRMISHER

Most 3- and 5-year-olds who taste-tested a variety of foods said they preferred the ones in the McDonald’s wrapper — even though the foods were exactly the same, a new study finds.

The study suggests that, like adults, young children are highly influenced by branding, experts say.

“This study demonstrates simply and elegantly that advertising literally brainwashes young children into a baseless preference for certain food products,” said Dr. David Katz, the director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.

“Children, it seems, literally do judge a food by its cover. And they prefer the cover they know,” said Katz, who was not involved in the research.

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