“Eat them to defeat
them!” declares this rather dynamic advert in which evil looking veg emerge
from under the ground to bare their teeth and terrorize the neighbourhood. “For
years the grown ups have been keeping the veg invasion at bay… but they can’t
do it alone” the voiceover continues over scenes of people battling broccoli
and clashing with courgettes. Kids can help apparently by eating more veg hence
the slogan. “Peas- you’re going down” yells a girl as the offending items are
brandished on a fork before she eats them. This admittedly well- made amusing ad
seems to give off some very mixed, even confusing messages about vegetables.
You can see where they’re coming from but I’m not sure it will have quite the
intended effect especially amongst younger children who may be put off by some
of the imagery used. So what’s going on?
Launched on 25 January,
the ad was created by ITV and an organisation called Veg Power. It was made by respected agency Adam and Eve/ DBB and directed by Ninian
Doff of Pulse Films. It is in fact the spearhead of a planned extensive
campaign across TV, cinema and outdoor locations as well as on social media.
There will be advert posters, stickers and wall charts where children become the hero who, with the help of their parents, will try and
save the world from being overrun by these angry vegetables. The campaign is funded by a rare coming together of
major retailers including Aldi, Asda, Co-op, Iceland, Lidl, Marks & Spencer,
Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsburys, Tesco and Waitrose as well as Birds Eye. ITV has donated £2m of airtime across
its channels for a twelve week period.
The
campaign also has widespread support amongst prominent food writers and
broadcasters such as Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, who says: “I’m really
pleased and excited to be involved in Veg Power. Getting our kids to eat more
vegetables is simply vital. This campaign is brave, fun and engaging. It will
inspire kids to enjoy the huge range of tastes, textures and colours that the
brilliant world of veg has to offer.” ITV’s CEO Carolyn McCall adds: “This
campaign will reach millions of parents and children through our biggest and
most popular shows and it is unlike anything that has gone before. We’re proud
to use the power of TV to take a new, bold and brave approach to encouraging
kids to eat more vegetables.”
So who are Veg Power? Their
stated aim is to tackle the rise of childhood obesity and build a permanent advertising
fund for vegetables. They
aim to change people’s perception of vegetables to encourage young people and
indeed everyone to eat more vegetables. The organisation’s Chair Baroness Rosie Boycott says: “With the aim of
using ‘advertising for good’ and engaging and entertaining kids rather than
using the well-worn health message, we can really shift the dial and hope to
see long lasting behaviour change.”
While you can
never be sure who will take notice of an advert the campaign is supposedly
aimed at the somewhat staggering 80% of kids and 96% of
teenagers who apparently don't eat enough vegetables. The thinking is that
making something they will find more relatable may change these eating habits.
That of course depends on what they might relate to and I’m not entirely
convinced a horror pastiche is the best choice in terms of appealing to the
largest amount of young people. It may even make some start to think of veg as scary. Also, the ad’s presumption that adults do eat plenty
of vegetables is also not necessarily the case. On the other hand the ad is
lively, fun and avoids serious health messages. Shot like extracts from a movie
it will definitely be noticed.
It will take a while to see how much impact the campaign
has and I’ve yet to see teens hanging around in public places munching on carrots
but its early days. The idea of kids not liking veg seems strange given that
they always seem to prefer brightly coloured things. Some research suggests
that far from being naturally ill disposed to peas, broccoli and company a lot
of children follow the lead of their veg avoiding parents. So perhaps this
worthy advertising campaign is targeting the wrong people….?
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