Preventing Childhood Obesity - Evidence Policy and Practice.pdf

Chapter 27
Box 27.4 Excerpt from Good for
Kids Good for Life sponsorship
guidelines
Criteria for d eciding on the
a ppropriateness of a c ommercial
a rrangement s uch a s s ponsorship
Good for Kids Good for Life will work with other organizations
in a commercial arrangement provided the
following conditions are met:
1. The sponsorship or other commercial arrangement
is in the name of the organization (rather than in the
name of a brand or product).
2. The products or marketing practices of the organization
are deemed to be appropriate by the Chief
Executive or delegated officer.
Products or practices may be considered to be inappropriate
in the following areas:
• products that are deemed to be contrary to public
health and well - being and harmful to children (e.g.
tobacco, arms, alcohol);
• a product line or marketing strategy in which the
major food or beverage products are deemed to be
energy - dense and micronutrient poor and thus may
contribute to unhealthy weight gain;
• marketing practices which are potentially misleading
or deceptive, particularly with regard to unsubstantiated
claims in relation to health outcomes;
• inappropriate marketing of products to children —
this could include (but is not restricted to):
the deliberate targeting of young children in
the marketing of energy - dense, micronutrient -
poor products
the use of inappropriate marketing techniques
that take advantage of children ’ s credulity (e.g.
premiums, inducements, popular children ’ s
heroes or celebrities);
• the presentation of unbalanced or inconsistent
health communications, especially where the roles
of both diet and physical activity in achieving and
maintaining good health are not appropriately
addressed.
resources and appropriate structures this creativity
can readily be applied to preventing childhood obesity.
But what sorts of structures are needed to foster community
decision making on childhood obesity prevention?
The foundational structure may start off as a
small planning committee consisting of a relatively
small group of community stakeholders (for example,
community health organizations and local govern-
ment) brought together by some funding opportunity.
The task of the planning committee is to stimulate
action in the community through a process of needs
assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation.
It also has the task of increasing the number of
community stakeholders involved in the program and
changing the way these stakeholders do business
through a process of organizational change. 39 New
governance structures are built around these tasks and
communication structures are also required to ensure
the opinions of the broader community are brought
to bear on the program.
The Be Active Eat Well program in Colac, Victoria,
offers an example of the kinds of structures required.
In the early stages of the project, a steering committee
with representatives from the funders (state health
department) evaluators (university) and implementers
(local health organization and local government)
guided the planning and early implementation phases.
As the project progressed, the governance structures
also had to evolve, and the initial steering committee
was replaced by a local implementation committee to
guide on the ground activities, and a higher - level reference
committee to provide strategic guidance,
expert technical advice and broader linkages to other
activities.
Moreover, as the group of stakeholders involved
expanded, working parties were formed (e.g. a schools
working party) that served as effector arms for the
steering committee. Parents and other community
members participated in some of these groups but
there was also a need for communication tools or
structures for broader community input. This
occurred primarily through a newsletter that went
home to parents from school and feedback boxes
located in the schools that teachers, parents or children
were encouraged to use. It also occurred through
local media and, perhaps facilitated by the smallness
of the township, through the presence and availability
of project staff.
Examples on a larger scale are the Healthy Living
Centres in the UK. 40 These were launched by the New
Opportunities Fund (now know as the Big Lottery
Fund or BIG) in 1998 as part of the new Labour government
’ s strategy to improve health (in its broadest
sense) and to address health inequalities. Underlying
the vision for how these centres would operate was
a perception that “ communities ” themselves would
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