Loyalty is in the eye of the beholder, according to new research. A Cornell study found that cereals marketed to children often feature characters looking down.

Cereal boxes marketed to adults, on the other hand, have characters with nearly straight gazes at a very slight upward angle about half a degree.

What does this mean, exactly?



Findings show eye contact increases trust up to 16% and feeling connected to the brand up to 28% for both children and adults. And more positive feelings toward the brand might make you more likely to buy it.

In a blog response to the studies, General Mills Vice President of Global Communications Tom Forsythe called the research "absurd."

Forsythe also searched the average age and height of a child when he or she begins to walk.

If this research was in any way meaningful – which it's not – these supposedly downward looking characters would be looking below eye level of the youngest kids possible.Unless mom is dragging the kid on the floor. Or the kid is duck-walking.