A new report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and The Food Trust examines marketing strategies that may help parents, caregivers and youths select and purchase healthier foods and beverages at the grocery store. The report, Harnessing the Power of Supermarkets to Help Reverse Childhood Obesity, includes case studies and recommendations about marketing tactics, such as in-store promotions, placement and pricing, that can encourage healthy eating, increase customer satisfaction and help food retailers increase profitability. The report provides highlights from a meeting co-hosted by RWJF and The Food Trust in June 2010. More than 60 public health leaders, food retailers, food manufacturers, consumer product designers and marketers met in Philadelphia to address the vital ...
Students at Northside Independent School District cafeterias in San Antonio are noticing changes as they choose their food. New options are fresh fruit bowls, veggies, salads, lean meats and whole-grain rolls. Gone are white-flour breads, high-fat cheese, fried food and sodas. Even the cafeteria name is gone—“café” has taken its place. The Northside Child Nutrition Department has spent $1.5 million over the last two years to provide more fresh fruits and salads, and new entrée options with less sodium and fat, in order to improve access to healthy foods. The district also has revamped the marketing of its healthy foods and has a mascot named NIC (Nutrition Instructional Chimp) to visit schools and tout healthy choices. “If you take this food away from the ...
The Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity's new report, Fast Food FACTS: Evaluating Fast Food Nutrition and Marketing to Youth, includes more information about fast-food ads seen by Latino and black youths. As reported by the Multi-American blog:
There is considerable evidence that exposure to marketing for fast food is even higher among African American and Hispanic youth. African American youth view almost 50% more TV advertisements for fast food than do white children and adolescents. Although differences in advertising exposure can be attributed in large part to the greater amount of time that African American and Hispanic youth spend watching television, fast food restaurants appear to disproportionately target African Americans and Hispanics with their marketing efforts. ...
More P.E. classes in schools? Taxes on snacks and sodas? The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is issuing a last call for suggestions on the best ways to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic. Share your thoughts in RWJF’s online forum, where our program officers are leading discussions about ensuring nutritious foods in schools, building more sidewalks and bike lanes, restricting food marketing, and unlocking school gyms and blacktops for community use outside of school hours. Give us your two cents before the forum ends this Monday, Aug. 16, 2010. More than 100 comments have been posted so far, with the topic of physical fitness in schools attracting the liveliest discussion. But what about other strategies, such as: Making certain foods and drinks cheaper—fruits, ...
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has launched a special online forum to start an open dialogue about the best ways to implement their six policy priorities for reversing the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015, including creating healthier schools and communities. The discussion forum consists of six topic threads—one for each policy priority: Built environment
High-quality, affordable foods in communities
Pricing Strategies
Food and beverages in schools
Physical activity in school
Marketing to children Latinos, this is a perfect opportunity to weigh in with your throughts on efforts to solve childhood obesity. Please don't hesitate to visit the RWJF site and enter your comments—RWJF staff members are acting as hosts and will post messages ...
U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin has released a report, the Surgeon General's Vision for a Healthy and Fit Nation, which recommends ways to improve nutrition and physical activity, include school wellness policies, reduce junk food marketing to children and support walking and biking infrastructure. Yet the report hasn't gotten the same media hype as when First Lady Michelle Obama made it her personal goal to fight against childhood obesity (earlier this week, the first lady met with lawmakers on the issue). But the surgeon general's report has merit, says a Washington Post blogger:
...[the report] talks about personal responsibility, about communities working together, about grassroots efforts. It places the onus for weight loss squarely on the shoulders of individuals. ...
Smoking makes you "Stupidiota." That's the simple thought behind the new bi-cultural youth smoking prevention campaign by DC Tobacco Free Families, which seeks to empower Latino youths to become the messengers and stewards of this cause. A powerful and fascinating creation of Communications-Marketing agency, Elevation, Stupidiota features two TV PSAs inspired by popular video games (The SIMS and World of War Craft), a radio PSA with a catchy Reggaeton beat and other guerilla marketing tools. The campaign equips youth with the tools they need to stay tobacco free and proclaim No Soy Stupidiota (I ain’t no Stupidiota). For more information on Stupidiota, click here. Watch the stupidiota PSA inspired by World of War Craft here or ...
