Case Study
A youth obesity prevention campaign developed for teens in Oklahoma.
FUEL FOR FOOTBALL
SLUGGISH
The Challenge
Oklahoma has the eighth highest youth obesity rate in the country, with an estimated 150,000 children who are classified as overweight or obese.
Though most teens want to be and feel healthy, they often don’t think about how their food choices affect them. Instead, they gravitate toward what their peers eat, foods that taste good, or options that are cheap and convenient. In partnership with the TSET Healthy Youth Initiative, we sought to deliver specific and realistic nutrition messages that teens can easily incorporate into their daily lives.
Audience Insights
In our formative research with 400+ Oklahoma teens (13-18), we found:
• Overall, teens want to be healthier, and teens who are overweight reported high levels of intent to change their behaviors in the next seven days.
• Teens in rural areas were found to be significantly more likely than urban teens to report that they drank soda two or more times per day.
• Rural teens were also more likely to have fewer food options and less fresh produce due to the distances they have to travel for groceries and the selections available in their locations.
• Among all teens, the most common reasons for not eating fruit and vegetables in the past seven days were that they didn’t think about eating them and because their family did not buy them.
• Teens were motivated by facts linking healthier beverage choices with increased energy, alertness, and brain performance.
• Facts linking obesity to impacts on fitness and sports performance motivated overweight teens to eat more fruits and vegetables.
One year post campaign launch, overall campaign awareness is high at 72%. The campaign was found to be relevant among 67% of participants, with 79% reporting the campaign provides information that can help them improve their nutrition. Additionally, teens who reported being aware of the campaign were significantly more likely to report that eating fruits and vegetables is more important to them and that if they were to drink more water they would perform better in physical activities compared to teens who were unaware of the campaign.
