Sesame Street Launches Health
Habits Campaign
By Sarah Ann Mockbee
|
EU
Assistant Editor Sarah Ann Mockbee with Sesame Street
stars Elmo and Grover |
In an effort to address the growing epidemic of childhood
obesity, Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind Sesame
Street, has developed a
comprehensive program that will educate children, parents and
caregivers about the importance of cultivating a healthy lifestyle
at an early age. By capitalizing on the popularity of the Sesame
Street characters, “Healthy Habits for Life: A Great
Start to a Lifetime of Good Health” will target preschoolers
by focusing on preventative strategies rather than intervention
techniques, which have been statistically less successful.
Rosemary Truglio, a psychologist employed by Sesame Workshop,
suggests that a child introduced to certain habits at a young
age is more likely to maintain learned behaviors than a child
who is introduced to the same information later in life. Truglio
is also quick to point out that “Healthy Habits” centers
on a healthy lifestyle from all perspectives, including nutrition,
personal hygiene, physical exercise and rest and relaxation.
This approach echoes Sesame Street's mantra of embracing the child's complete self, which
demands attention to social, physical, emotional and cognitive
needs.
Studies show that 10 percent of American children are diagnosed
as clinically obese and 30 percent are overweight. These trends
point to an increased likelihood of Type 2 Diabetes, heart
disease and/or a shortened lifespan. Sesame Workshop recognized
the unique ability it had to help influence young children
in a different direction. When asked to pick between broccoli
and chocolate, 93 percent of children chose chocolate. But
when Elmo, the popular Sesame Street character, was paired with broccoli and a generic red
puppet was paired with chocolate, 70 percent of children chose
the broccoli. Armed with an audience that clearly looks to
its characters for guidance, Sesame Workshop created “Healthy
Habits” with a board of advisors consisting of leading
health, nutrition, fitness and education experts who will help
ensure all content is age appropriate and, most importantly,
effective. The research-based educational information that
is garnered from studies will then be turned into the scripts
that air on Sesame Street. Themes such as nutrition, physical activity, healthy
cooking and body image will dominate the show in its 36th season,
which will begin in April 2005. One such segment will feature
Elmo and Zoe as contestants in “The Healthy Foods Name
Game,” in which Elmo and Zoe must find four healthy foods
of various colors.
The “Healthy Habits” campaign
will reach far beyond Sesame Street. Home videos, books,
interactive media and a traveling museum exhibition that
will reach 15 cities over the next five years will also help
contribute to the initiative. Sesame Workshop is also pairing with Hain-Celestial Group
to create a line of co-branded natural food products, which will
feature Sesame Street characters
on the labeling. Truglio maintains that Sesame Workshop's goal
is to elevate the message of maintaining a healthy lifestyle
as critical to the development of a child as reading and writing
are considered today.#
