Fat cartoon characters may make their young fans fatter, too, according to a new study.

To research this phenomenon, scientists showed about 60 eighth graders one of two cartoon characters: One was a nice, thin jellybean-like fellow, while the other was a rounder jellybean. Once they showed one of the characters to the child, they then thanked him and gestured to a bowl of treats, saying, “You can have some candy.” Those who had seen the more obese jellybean took about 3.8 pieces of candy on average, while those who had seen the thinner bean took just 1.7 pieces.

Researchers also found this effect may be countered somewhat if you encourage the children to think about healthy foods before being shown rotund cartoon images. (New York Times)