This is part of our Active Spaces & Latino Kids: A Research Review »
Social marketing to encourage physical activity in children
An example of a successful community-based social marketing campaign is VERB, which promoted physical activity among U.S. children ages 9-13 years and four specific racial/ethnic groups, including Latinos.92 Participants received appealing messages through VERB-branded radio and TV advertisements with the tag line, “It's what you do!” For Latinos in particular, the tag line was modified to “Ponte las Pilas,” or “Get going” (the literal translation is “put in your batteries”). The advertisements emphasized family values, had an emotional tone, and were delivered in Spanish by authority figures and media personalities who were well ...
This is part of our Food and Latino Kids: A Research Review »
Latinos face economic barriers to healthy eating
Focus groups of Latino mothers have revealed that the most significant barrier to establishing healthy eating habits for their children is economic constraint.82 Many Latino families experience intermittent or chronic food insecurity; however, food is usually given the highest priority. Because of financial constraints, lower-income Latino mothers’ food purchases are driven almost exclusively by price.83 Mothers have expressed that they commonly travel to several different locations to purchase specific items at the lowest prices available.82 These practices demonstrate that Latino mothers’ desire to provide healthy meals for their families and protect their ...
Food, nutrition and healthy eating are all very important and relevant topics to anyone. How does marketing and communications about these topics impact consumers knowledge, skill and behaviors? This is what the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the Food and Nutrition Board discussed in a recent workshop about food literacy. The Workship discussed three goals: Discuss current science that concerns the roles that consumers education and health marketing and branding play in affecting consumers knowledge, skills and behavior
Explore how scientific information is communicated
Think about how food Literacy can be strengthened through communication tools and strategies. Learn more about the workshop by clicking ...
Latino kids are a particularly attractive target for food marketers because of their increasing population size, spending power, and media exposure. Who’s targeting Latino and other kids of color? Do they see more healthy or junk food ads? Use #SaludTues to tweet with us on Aug. 11, 2015, as we unveil the results of a new study that explores the disproportionate targeting of unhealthy foods and drinks to Latino and African American kids, and which companies are doing the most targeting: WHAT: #SaludTues Tweetchat: “The Crisis of Junk Food Marketing to Kids of Color”
TIME/DATE: 1-2p ET (Noon-1 p CT), Tuesday, August 11, 2015
WHERE: On Twitter with hashtag #SaludTues
HOST: @SaludToday
CO-HOSTS: The Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity (@UConnRuddCenter); the ...
Can a rap song or graffiti art help kids eat healthier? Dr. Kevin Strong wanted to give it a shot and compete with the unhealthy marketing that kids—especially Latinos—are bombarded with daily. So founded the “Dunk the Junk” movement to work in schools and through social media to tailor health messages to kids in a fun way to counter junk food advertising. He uses rap, hip-hop dance, basketball, and graffiti art to change what kids think is cool to eat. “I love basketball and I would see a million junk food ads every time I watched,” Strong told Style101 Magazine. “I was just really saddened by the all children that are coming in [to my clinic] real young, devastated by junk food exposure.”
The Need for Counter Marketing
In his many years as a community ...
In low-income areas lacking full-service grocery stores that sell healthy foods, the neighborhood corner store can be a powerful tool. Latino neighborhood tend to have more corner stores and about one-third the number of supermarkets as non-Latino neighborhoods. In Memphis, Tennessee, one corner store owner is working to make his store a place to buy healthy, affordable foods. Thanks to a grant from the Centers for Disease Control, the YMCA of Memphis and the Mid-South is helping Yousef Alabsi bring fresh fruits and vegetables to his corner store, El Amigo Supermarket. Bananas, apples and even some frozen vegetables were brought in for the neighborhood. Alabsi said that this customers want these new options and the problem now is keeping the bins full. According to a local ...
Children see 10 to 13 food-related advertisements per day on television, half of which air during programs specifically for children. Research shows Latino kids see more junk food advertisements than their peers. The industry-based Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) and the government-based Interagency Working Group (IWG), have each created voluntary nutrition guidelines for food and beverage products advertised on children’s programs. Although many food and beverage companies participate in the CFBAI, improvement in the nutritional content of advertised food and beverage products has been limited. Researchers wanted to compare the CFBAI's list of food and beverage products approved to be advertised on children’s television programs with the federal ...
A coalition comprised 10 consumer watchdog groups has filed an official complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), urging them to investigate YouTube's new kids app, which was launched on February 23, 2015. According to a blog post from Food Politics, the group has charged YouTube with violating section 5 of the FTC act. In a letter the group sent to the FTC on April 7, 2014, the coalition provides examples of how the new kids app deceptively targets kids with ads for toys and junk food. The group claims that the app: Uses advertising and programming in ways that deceive young children;
Features “branded channels” for companies like McDonald’s, Barbie, and Fisher-Price; and
Distributes so called “user-generated” segments that feature items like ...
Companies spend over $150 million a year marketing mostly junk food to kids in schools. Thorough corporate sponsorships, posters/signs, vending machines, ads on buses and scoreboards, these companies constantly target Latino kids and minority youth. However, it doesn't have to be this way. Parents can take a stand again junk food ads by using new Growing Healthy Change marketing resources and tips from the new Voices For Healthy Kids "Don’t Sell Us Short" healthier food marketing toolkit. Access the toolkit ...
