Frames

A few years ago, a British team of researchers wanted to investigate the potential effect of music on consumer choices. Working in a grocery store, they set up a tape player in the wine section of a store, directly above a display of four French and four German wines of comparable price. They then played French and German music on alternate days.

The result? When French music was played, the store sold forty bottles of French wine, and only eight bottles of German. Simply a consequence de la haute qualite of French wines? Well, when German music was played, sales of the French wines dropped to 12 bottles, and consumers, their heads full of Rhineland melodies, sprang for 22 bottles of German wine. Our choices may seem to be rational, but they're often governed or affected in large part by framing forces.

Cleo doesn't know the difference between French and German music. In fact, I'm not sure she knows the difference between her left foot and the cat. But I wonder if the same principle - the idea that frames matter - might be applicable in some interesting ways, as she grows older. In a year, when she's eating solid foods, might it help to accompany some of the less popular choices (Brussels sprouts, say) with a favorite book, or jingle? Could a slight parental frown expressed as the car drives by a McDonald's affect our daughter's attitude towards fast food?

Sometimes, of course, people simply prefer certain dietary and gustatory choices - and we're eager to see what choices Cleo makes, as she grows older. (For now, her right fist, stuffed into her mouth, seems to suffice, in most cases). But we're also nervous, in a landscape of processed foods and colorful cartoon spokesanimals. Slowly, uncertainly, we're erecting a tapedeck of our own. But will it work, when we press play? And will it be loud enough, or too loud?