Children’s use of mobile gaming applications has grown significantly since the introduction of the smart phone. According to Common Sense Media seven out of ten children under the age of eight used a mobile device in 2013, spending an average of fifteen minutes a day on the phone (Kang). Similarly, the Guardian reported the use of tablets among children ages five to fifteen in the UK tripled between 2010 and 2012 and continues to grow (Dredge). Gutnick et al.(2010) suggests that children all over the world are playing social games, many of which are commercial in nature. Marketers have taken advantage of children’s game playing by creating branded gaming apps and embedding messaging in these “advergames”(Terlutter and Capella).

We conducted an experiment among children aged four to ten to determine their responses to products in food-related mobile gaming apps. Our objective was to determine whether children respond favorably to brands after playing games featuring particular product categories and whether mood and gender congruence influence responses. Prior research has found that affective responses influence acquisition of favorable attitudes toward products in ‘advergames.’However, most studies examine attitudes toward brands that are present in the games. Our research looks at the generalized effect of game play featuring generic product categories and the impact on brand exemplars to determine whether generic product games influence attitude acquisition.