“Fruits & Veggies is officially a brand now. That’s why we’ve got a shiny new logo, commercials, and even living, breathing celebrity endorsers.” So says the FNV home page.
FNV is a multi-media campaign that is enlisting celebrities, such as Jessica Alba and Kristen Bell, to provide competitive advertising for fruit and vegetables.
“We will be stealing a page out of the big brands playbook with advertising for fruits and veggies.” Explains James Gavin, a board chairman of Partnership for a Healthier America.
“We are pulling out all the stops. We will be disruptive. We will be proactive. We will leverage celebrities. We will stop at nothing until the country is asking for more fruit and veg, please.”
America, amoung many other countries, is in a health crisis and the primary contributing culprit is fast food consumption.
“A child sees on average 5,500 junk food adverts a year while seeing only 100 for water, fruit, vegetables and whole grains.” Says Sam Kass, previous Senior Policy Advisor for Nutrition Policy to president Barack Obama, Executive Director for First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Campaign, and Whitehouse Assistant Chef.
“We need to look at how we are promoting healthy foods. Fast food adverts appeal to emotional responses like happiness, which will always beat an abstract idea of health. Healthy food adverts need to be just as sexy and emotionally appealing as fast food ads in order for them to make an impact.”
Athlete Cam Newton
Food Navigator-USA reports that FNV’s advertising aims to compete with fast food advertising by; being high quality, engaging and reaching consumers through a variety of outlets such as; print, television, social media, bus stops and retail outlets.
“Research shows that nothing moves product like celebrities. So naturally, we want in on that action. That’s why we’re recruiting super influential people like actors, athletes, and not your mom to get you to eat more Fruits & Veggies. Open wide, it’s Team FNV.” Says the FNV team page.
Importantly the campaign has, first lady, Michelle Obama’s backing:
“This campaign is going to be amazing. It is exciting, it is fresh, it is current. If folks are going to pour money into marketing unhealthy foods, the lets fight back with ads for healthy foods.”
Take a peak at the launch of the FNV ad campaign:
South Africa’s Fast Food Crisis:
CNBCAfrica reports that Shereen Tuff, senior research analyst at Euromonitor International, says that South Africa’s obesity levels are high.
“South Africa has high obesity levels, sitting at 20.8 per cent of the population over the age of 15 being obese in 2012, according to our latest figures. Whilst there are growing health and wellness concerns, these are largely the concerns of the upper-income groups, with the bulk of the population being more concerned with affordability and convenience rather than health,”
“Despite real and growing concerns about their health, there is little evidence that consumers are going to avoid fast food in order to eat more healthily, which will boost sales by another 16 per cent in constant value terms by 2017.”
With South Africa’s eating stats taking a turn for the worse, FNV’s advertising concept might be a practical solution to our nation’s growing health problems. What do you think? Share your thoughts with us below.
