Lincolnshire schools join TV ‘Veg Power’ campaign to tackle obesity

Veg Power and ITV have joined forces to launch the initiative to improve the nation’s health.

To coincide with a new TV advert, maintained primary schools have been sent 10,000 veg power packs for their children, with fun reward charts and food safe stickers with googly eyes to encourage them to try new vegetables.

“Our primary schools throughout the county are receiving the packs this week to coincide with the start of the advertising campaign rolled out across some of the channel’s biggest programmes”, said Coun Patricia Bradwell, executive councillor for children’s services at Lincolnshire County Council.

“It’s a fun concept which places children at the heart of a new TV advert as heroes trying to save their parents from being overrun by angry vegetables – ‘Eat Them To Defeat Them’.

“The aim is to help parents and carers to engage their children with the campaign at home. If it inspires children to eat more healthily and help tackle the rising childhood obesity problem, it’s got to be a good thing.”

Launching on ITV during Coronation Street, the advert will be rolled out across the channel’s ‘biggest’ programmes (The Voice, Dancing on Ice and Britain’s Got Talent). People can join in the conversation on social media through the hashtag #EatThemToDefeatThem.

The campaign is supported by chef Jamie Oliver and food writer Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall, funded by food companies and supermarkets, including Birds Eye, Aldi, Asda, Co-op, Iceland, Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.

The latest statistics show that 96% of teenagers and 80% of primary school children don’t eat enough vegetables.

The UK ranks 21 out of 28 in the EU for fresh vegetable consumption, and 44% of children remove at least some, if not all, of the salad from a burger.

Some 49.2% of parents wait ‘at least’ five minutes at family mealtime for their children to finish their vegetables (which equates to 30 hours a year).