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UK industry supports TV ad campaign to tackle obesity
Date: 02/01/2009
One of the more ambitious attempts to change a nation's lifestyle is launched on Friday with the start of a three-year campaign between government, the food and fitness industries and charities to tackle the rising tide of obesity.
The campaign, which is branded "Change4Life", kicks off with £8m worth of television advertisements that will feed into a wide range of initiatives to get people eating better and exercising more.
Planned activities include PepsiCo running ads promoting healthy play for children, Unilever branding the London marathon "Change4Life", the fitness industry offering temporary free access to health clubs later in the year under a "MoreActive4Life" banner, supermarkets such as the Co-op and Tesco promoting healthier eating, and Asda launching a "Bike4Life" campaign to promote cycling to families.
The health department has a £75m budget over three years for a campaign which will generate more than £200m of supportive activity from industry, according to "Business4Life", a coalition of food, drink, retail and fitness providers formed by the Advertising Association.
Dawn Primarolo, the public health minister, said the aim was "a lifestyle revolution" on a scale "no government has attempted before" in the face of projections that 90 per cent of today's children would become overweight adults.
The health department, she said, had tried to learn from campaigns such as Make Poverty History and Comic Relief by bringing in a wide range of partners to spread a message intended to encourage people to change their behaviour rather than lecture them on what to do and what to eat.
The government advertisements are backed by a website, a telephone help-line and advisers whom the department says can put callers in touch with more than 45,000 contacts from local council and fitness centres, to cookery clubs and after-school and sporting activities. The big cancer and heart disease charities will also support the campaign in their advertising.
Business4Life said the partnership with government would be "a strong force for good". The private sector's vast expertise in advertising, marketing and media could amplify government messages "many of which are often shared with industry", a spokesman said.
Source: The Financial Times Limited 2009
Click here for an executive briefing from WFA on food advertising and obesity.
