The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #71693

Reba Meigs, MPA¹, Tanya Garbolino, MBA¹, Kristy Tuttle¹, and Leah Haynes, BA². (1) Cancer Prevention and Nutrition Section, Public Health Institute, 601 North 7th Street, P.O. Box 942732, Sacramento, CA 94234, 916-445-7028, rmeigs@dhs.ca.gov, (2) 5 a Day Power Play!, University of California Cooperative Extension, 669 County Square Drive, Suite 100, Ventura, CA 93003

Eat Out Smart is a community-based project developed as part of the statewide California Children’s 5 a Day—Power Play! Campaign to encourage low-income families to select at least one fruit or vegetable option from the menu while dining in their favorite community restaurants. The 5 a Day Power Play! Campaign funds 11 regional lead agencies to motivate and empower 9-to 11-year-old low-income children to eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables and be physically active for 60 minutes every day through activities with schools, community youth organizations, farmers markets, supermarket, restaurants and media. During National Nutrition Month, participating restaurants provided additional fruit and vegetable menu options at no cost to the customer, placed educational table tents on each table, advertised the Eat Out Smart sign in their windows and distributed “Eat 5 A Day” family fun packets to targeted consumers. The family fun packets provide families with bilingual information about the importance of including more fruits and vegetables in their diets as well as easy tips on how to do so. The purpose of this presentation is to demonstrate an innovative application of social marketing methods from a community-based approach. It will also discuss key findings, which include a two-year comparison of restaurant sales, number of participating families and community characteristics such as youth obesity rates and percentage of students eligible for free and reduced price meals.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of this session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to:
2. Identify four strategies for developing community partnerships to include local restaurants, schools, community organizations and public entities.
4. Describe three strategies to increase fruit and vegetable consumption when dining out at restaurants.
6. Identify four methods for evaluating the success of a community-based social marketing project.

Keywords: Social Marketing, Community Collaboration

Related Web page: www.ca5aday.com

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.