Our Healthier Communities Initiatives are built on the concept that local communities can work together to give all community members healthy choices and support the pursuit of healthy lifestyles.  More than 160 Ys are working in collaboration with community leaders to make changes in policies and the physical surroundings in those communities so that healthy living is within reach for individuals of all ages and backgrounds.

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Healthy Eating Strategy #17: Implement Campaigns on Healthy Eating Across Many Venues of the Community

Social marketing can be an effective tool to support healthy eating and lead to improved health. Campaigns on healthy eating raise public awareness about healthy eating and increase consumption and sales of healthy foods.

 

Campaigns on healthy eating have been found to raise public awareness about healthy eating and disease prevention and increase consumption and sales of healthy foods. A nutrition intervention at school has the potential to reduce the incidence of overweight in children. Nationwide health education campaigns have been shown to have a long-term impact (one year post-campaign) on the sale and consumption of healthier food and beverage items. Thus, social marketing can be an effective tool to improve nutrition knowledge, attitudes, and behavior, improving support for healthy eating and eventually leading to improved health.

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References

1. Foerster, S.B., Kizer, K.W., Disogra, L.K., Bal, D.G., Krieg, B.F., & Bunch, K.L. (1995). California's 5 a day—for better health! campaign: An innovative population-based effort to effect large-scale dietary change. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 11(2), 124–131.
2. Foster, G.D., Sherman, S., Borradaile, K.E., Grundy, K.M., Vander Veur, S.S., Nachmani, J., Karpyn, A., Kumanyika, S., & Shults, J. (2008). A policy-based school intervention to prevent overweight and obesity. Pediatrics, 121(4), e794–e802.
3. NSW Go for 2&5 2008 Campaign Evaluation pamphlet. http://www.gofor2and5.com.au/campaign.aspx?c=5&a=41&s=118&t=119&n=396#Publications.
4. Pollard, C.M., Miller, M.R., Daly, A.M., Crouchley, K.E., O'Donoghue, K.J., Lang, A.J., & Binns, C.W. (2008). Increasing fruit and vegetable consumption: Success of the Western Australian Go for 2&5 Campaign. Public Health Nutrition, 11(3), 314–320.
5. Reger, B., Wootan, M.G., Booth-Butterfield, S., & Smith, H. (1998). 1% or less: A community-based nutrition campaign. Public Health Reports, 113(5), 410–419.
6. Samuels S. (1993). Project LEAN: Lessons learned from a national social marketing campaign. Public Health Reports, 108(1), 45–53.
7. Sorenson, G., Stoddard, A., Peterson, K., Cohen, N., Hunt, M.K., Stein, E., Palombo, R., & Lederman, R. (1999). Increasing fruit and vegetable consumption through worksites and families in the Treatwell 5-a-day study. American Journal of Public Health, 89(1), 54–60.

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