Abstract Packaging as an important strategic communication tactic has a particularly strong influence on children’s preferences and purchase decisions. Drawn from the literature on international consumer marketing, developmental esthetics, and cognitive development theory as well as findings in evolutionary psychology and neuroscience, this research investigates age effects on children’s preferences of package design from a developmental perspective, focusing on visual attributes of package design including curvilinearity, figurativeness, and complexity. With data from 763 U.S. children aged 3–12, we find children’s preference for curved package design increases with age. Children’s preference for figurative package design shows an inverted-U pattern with age in some cases as hypothesized, though this pattern does not hold in all cases depending on the subject matter of the package design. The results also reveal a positive relationship between age and children’s preference for complex package design. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed and guidelines are provided for marketers, designers, and public policy makers to design packages more effective to children of 3–12 years in age.

中文翻译：

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探索年龄对儿童对包装设计偏好的影响：曲线，比喻和复杂性

摘要包装作为一种重要的战略沟通策略，对儿童的偏好和购买决定具有特别重要的影响。这项研究从国际消费者营销，发展美学，认知发展理论以及进化心理学和神经科学方面的文献中汲取，从发展的角度研究了年龄对儿童对包装设计偏好的影响，重点是包装设计的视觉属性，包括曲线性，象征性和复杂性。根据来自763位美国3至12岁儿童的数据，我们发现儿童对弯曲包装设计的偏好会随着年龄的增长而增加。在某些情况下，儿童对具象包装设计的偏爱显示了随着年龄的增长呈倒U型的趋势，尽管根据包装设计的主题，这种模式并非在所有情况下都适用。结果还显示年龄和儿童对复杂包装设计的偏好之间存在正相关关系。讨论了理论和实践意义，并为营销人员，设计师和公共政策制定者提供了指导，以设计对3至12岁儿童更有效的包装。