Donuts on our daughters: Gender differences in food categories on children's apparel

Recent trends in children's fashion have featured food-graphics on children's apparel. Little attention has been paid to the food-graphic content of children's apparel. The objectives of this study were to describe and quantify food-graphics appearing on children's apparel, to examine characteristics of children's apparel items associated with the presence versus absence of food-graphics, and to examine gender differences in food-graphics.

A content analysis of food-graphics on children's apparel from major apparel retailer websites was performed. Images of food-graphic apparel were reliably coded for food-graphic categories. Multivariable analyses examined the association of apparel item characteristics with food-graphic presence. Bivariate analyses tested the association of presence or absence of each food category with gender of apparel item.

Of the 3870 apparel items coded, 8.2% (318) had food-graphics. In multivariable analysis, food-graphics were more likely to be present on girls' (versus boys') apparel (RR = 1.73, 95% CI 1.34-2.12). Content analysis of food-graphic items revealed categories including "pastries", "frozen desserts", "pizza", "fast food", "fruit", and "love of food". Girls' (versus boys') food-graphic apparel was more likely to have categories of "pastries" (33% versus 12%), "frozen desserts" (20% versus 9%), and "fruit" (30% versus 11%) and less likely to have categories of "pizza" (9% versus 30%), and "fast food" (3% versus 23%). The "love of food" category did not differ by gender. All p-values ≤.01.

Food-graphics on children's apparel are fairly common, especially on apparel marketed for girls. Children's apparel may represent a novel cultural influence on children's eating and food perceptions.