FCB in the fight against hidden sugars

The obesity epidemic among children was a problem even before the pandemic began, but then the situation worsened. The possibility for children to go out and be physically active has been reduced, and increased stress has led to unhealthy solutions being included in the diet even more often.

Obesity leads to significant health problems, and the connection between obesity and type 2 diabetes is especially important, which affects a worryingly large number of children and young people. The campaign created by Area 23, a branch of the FCB network, in collaboration with Hip Hop Public Health points to hidden sugars through a video where the main character is the fictional, animated rapper Lil Sugar.

The idea of ​​the video is to show everything that children eat, and where sugar is skillfully hidden. That is why the personified sugar cube, which is a villain, appears in various foods, ready to cheat the youngest ones who are not even aware of how sugar affects their physical and mental state.

As the goal of the campaign is to raise the awareness of young people about this problem, a format that is close to them was chosen and a connection with music and hip-hop culture was achieved. The secondary goal of the campaign is for children to further become educators in their environment and share the knowledge they have gained with their family and friends.

The campaign was supported by several organizations that offered their services pro bono, aware of the importance of the message it conveys. The creative team of Area 23 has also created a children's book that will accompany the campaign.

The application that the campaign refers to is made in the Pokemon-style and encourages players to point the phone at certain food and find out what types of sugar it contains, and thus discover them even if they skillfully hide.

The tone of the campaign is such that it can be adapted to the target groups of different years, but the main goal is to encourage dialogue between children and their parents/guardians.

In the end, the idea is not for children to never eat anything that contains sugar – but to learn to think about the choices they make in their diet. Sugar should be a dessert that comes from time to time and not the basis of the daily diet.

Source: MM + M