Fighting Obesity
Since 1980, the number of overweight children has doubled
- 1/3 of young people in grades 9-12 don’t regularly engage in vigorous physical activity.
- Out of overweight 5 to 10-year-olds, 61% have one risk factor for heart disease, and 26% have two or more risk factors.
- Hospital costs related to treating overweight and obese children and adolescents more than tripled from $35 million during 1979-1981 to $127 million during 1997-1999.
KIDS FIRST! sponsor, Qubo and NBC Universal are partnering with the US Department of Health & Human Services, the Ad Council and the US Olympic Committee to introduce a new series of nationwide Public Service Announcements addressing childhood obesity. The PSAs feature young 2008 summer Olympic hopefuls with animated characters from Qubo’s shows, such as Jane and the Dragon and Veggie Tales. Created pro bono by qubo and its programming partners, the PSAs begin airing this week on NBC, ION Television and the Qubo Channel. For more information, visit the Ad Council’s website, Coalition for Healthy Children.
The Coalition for Healthy Children’s goal is to help address the obesity crisis that confronts our nation and its children. Their mission is to provide clear, consistent, research-based messages to children and parents on the importance of practicing a healthier lifestyle and offer them the means to do it.
The Coalition’s members have made a commitment to the promotion of healthy living to our nation’s families and have agreed to incorporate the Coalition’s strategic messages into their marketing materials, which include advertising, packaging, web sites, grassroots programs, in-store promotions and collateral materials. Results of Coalition for Healthy Children consumer research, gathered in partnership with Yankelovich Research, indicates that Americans are confused about what it means to live healthfully and that they don’t know what to do about it. MessagingFighting the childhood obesity epidemic requires communicating directly to children and, just as importantly, to their parents and other adults. The Coalition has crafted messages to these audiences based on five basic communication strategies to promote healthy lifestyles:
- Physical Activity
- Food Choices
- Food Portions
- Balance between food and activity
- Role modeling
These specific messages are the results of careful research, made possible by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and are designed to speak to both children and adults in a way that is more likely to resonate and encourage a lifestyle change. Click here to see complete list of messages
