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 “The finding that marketing works of course isn’t new or earth
shattering. What is innovative here is the way in which we implement
it, putting it right in the school lunch line,” said lead author
Andrew S. Hanks of The Ohio State University in Columbus.
Hanks and colleagues tested the marketing program in 10 elementary
schools, each randomly assigned to follow one of four approaches for
six weeks. Schools either continued lunchroom service as normal,
added a vinyl banner with vegetable characters around the base of
the salad bar, added TVs playing health education segments featuring
the same characters, or added both banners and TV spots.
As reported in Pediatrics, before and during the study period, 6 to
8 percent of kids at schools without the marketing programs took
vegetables from the salad bar.
In schools with the TV segments, the proportion of kids who took
veggies from the salad bar rose from 14 percent to 19 percent. With
the banners, veggie selection increased from 13 percent to 24
percent.
At schools were both TV and banners were used, the proportion of
kids taking vegetables went from 10 percent to 35 percent.
Girls responded positively to both TV spots and banners, but boys
only increased their veggie selection when there were banners in
place, the researchers found.
“Something like this may not be effective for middle or high school
students who might consider vegetable characters with superhuman
strength as childish, but we can use marketing to influence their
behavior, and adults as well,” Hanks told Reuters Health by phone.
There was no measure of actual vegetable intake, he noted.
Implementing TV spots was more challenging as it was hard to find a
consistent place to put the TVs in each lunchroom, but banners
around the base of a salad bar were easy to install, and were more
effective since they were placed right at the point of selection, he
said.
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If you’re thinking about doing something, think about what you can
do at the point of selection, Hanks said.
“A lot of times school lunch programs are run as a small business,”
he said. Parents who want to initiate this kind of program might
bring it up to district supervisors or the health and wellness
district committee.
“This really shows that if you raise awareness and bring attention
to the healthier foods that kids will actually take them,” said
Jennifer L. Harris, director of marketing initiatives at the Rudd
Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of Connecticut,
who was not part of the new study. “Characters made the food seem
novel and appealing.”
But it’s not clear the effect would last, Harris told Reuters Health
by phone.
“I know a lot of schools are trying ways to make vegetables more
attractive to get kids to try them more,” Harris said. “This is a
fun way to do it.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/29u6tl0 Pediatrics, online July 5, 2016.
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