Eat your veggies: How Colby Carrot got more kids to choose salad

Kids may turn their noses up at some vegetables, but when they see superhero characterssuch asBrian Broccoli and Colby Carrotextolling the virtues of veggies, they may bemore eager to load up their salad plates.

Marketing experts found that to be the case when they did a six-week field experiment in 10 U.S. elementary schools.

Marketing to children is controversial in public health circles since the flashy ads and celebrity promotionsusually sellunhealthy food and drinks.

In the experiment, researchers harnessed marketing strategies to sway children towards salad. They randomly assigned participating classes to receive:

• A vinyl banner displaying vegetable characters that was fastened around the base of the salad bar in the school cafeteria.
• Short television clips with nutrition education messagesdelivered by the same vegetable character superheros, calledSuperSprowtz.
• A combination of the vinyl banner and television segments.

The animated vegetable characters includedColby Carrot, a joker withsuper sight,ZachZucchini, afast-swimming surfer dude, Suzy Sweetpea, a friendly eager beaverand super strong Brian Broccoli as captain.

In schools with the vinyl banners, nearly 91 per cent more students took veggies,an increase from 12.6 per centto 24per cent,Andrew Hanks, anassistant professor of consumer sciences at Ohio State University, and his team reported in the journalPediatrics.

• Fruits and vegetables: 6 ways to save money on produce
• Sesame Street, heart doctor aim to boost kids' health

When the kids also saw the videos, the number of kidsgrabbing greens jumped up 239 per cent, from 10.2 per centto 34.6 per cent, the researchers said.

Keep it simple pays off

"This was fairly innovative in that something of this nature hadn't been done in the past,"Hanks said in an interview.

"If we can keep it as simple and least costly as possible then we have a win. It's a big impact and we can really move the needle in terms of getting people to take more vegetables."

The simple banner was the more persuasive element, perhaps because it was consistentlypart of the salad bar, a prime spotwhere students were making their food choices, the researchers said. The location of TV screens was limited by the location of electrical outlets and wall space.

AlanMiddleton,an assistant professor ofmarketingat theSchulichSchool of Business at Toronto'sYork University who has worked for major advertising firms,watched the videos with a group of children and friends of CBC journalists and gauged their reactions.

"Make it fun, make it enjoyable,"saidMiddleton. "There is an opportunity of getting them turned on to that as much as they are to the other things."

Jora Birak, 10, snacked on veggie platters as he watched the videos. "The advertising makes it look better but sometimes it isnot," he said.

Preparing the veggies in such aneasy to eat form also helps, Middletonsaid.

• Cauliflower and celery and meat, oh my! Your ideas for tackling rising food prices
• Family meals boost children's fruit and vegetable intake

Whether the marketing tactic will work after the novelty wears off is an open question.

Junk food remainscheap andpumped with preservatives.For families struggling to make ends meet, Middleton saidpaying more for vegetables will continue to be a barrier asfood costs are projected to increase in the next decade.

The challenges come as aboutone in threechildren in Canada isoverweight or obese.

In anemailto CBC News,Health Minister JanePhilpott'sofficesaid evidence has shown marketing unhealthy products influences child obesity and the federal government will introducenew restrictionson its commercial marketing to support families tomake better food choices.