The study employed a one-factorial design manipulating
frequency of placement exposure. Two conditions involving
product placements were manipulated, and one control condition
was employed. Children were exposed to a 7-minute
excerpt from the movie Alvin and the Chipmunks. In all three
conditions, the clip tells the story of the Chipmunks and how
they met Dave and turned his life around. The moderatefrequency
condition included a scene in which the Chipmunks
are happy to find and eat Utz Cheese Balls in Dave’s
kitchen. The high-frequency group saw the scene from the
moderate condition plus an additional clip from the movie
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. The latter scene
showed one Chipmunk singing a song dedicated to Cheese
Balls while opening a bag of Utz Cheese Balls, again in
Dave’s kitchen. In both conditions, the Chipmunks are seen
eating the product, and there are visual and verbal placements
in both conditions. The control group saw a comparable
7-minute segment of the movie without the placements. The
general narration of all three versions was identical except
for the inclusion of Cheese Balls. A qualitative pretest with
n = 4 children exposed to the high-frequency condition did
not indicate that the excerpt was inappropriate or unrealistic.