Dive Brief:
- Food Practice Shooter is making its debut at the Tokyo Game Show exposition.
- The game involves a complicated mixture of video and real-world objects and a story about an attack by giant vegetables.
- The idea is to combine positive reinforcements with the desired behavior. In this case, to link a child's joy in killing a giant vegetable with eating a real vegetable.
Dive Insight:
Sorry. This idea seems ridiculous. We applaud the professor's efforts. And we congratulate him on getting to the exposition and winning coverage in Wired, which is arguably the world's most important technology publication. But Food Practice Shooter would never have seen the light of day if the professor had access to a marketing-research department.
Besides, we have serious problems with the entire trick-your-did-into-eating-veggies approach. We know lots of parents that try lots of tricks. They never work. Here's our advice: if you want your kids to love vegetables than you need to learn to love them yourself. And that means you need to learn to cook. Frozen veggies won't do it. Veggie-ish things like kale chips won't do it either. Learn to cook real, fresh veggies and learn to do it well. Take your time. Take a course or two if you have to. Start with sauteed greens, garlic and fish sauce. Your body and your kids will thank you.