Cartoons vs. Jesus

Last year in my psychology class we watched a study about children and their ability to identify pictures of people.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find the video, so I hope that my description will be sufficient.  Basically, a group of elementary age children were shown pictures of famous historical figures and pictures of cartoon characters for restaurants/products.  Almost every single child knew who Ronald McDonald was.  Many knew characters such as Tony the Tiger and the Trix bunny.  Only a handful of the older children could identify famous presidents such as George Washington.  The most surprising (and the part that made my jaw drop) was that when a picture of Jesus was presented to the children, not a single child was able to identify him.

Children are bombarded with advertisements all day every day.  When they watch their favorite TV shows, companies reel them in.  Commercials with silly cartoons dominate children's channels.  Why?  Because kids will remember these characters and base all of their wants on the best advertised product - the one that intrigues them the most.
I find it sad that children almost idolize places such as McDonald's all because they cater to children and are fun.  In the kindergarten class where I tutor, almost all the children have written multiple short stories about McDonald's.  If only we could have the success of Mickey D's and get more important things to stick in our youth's minds.  Maybe then children would be able to identify more presidents than restaurant cartoons.