ResearchDocument

From the research findings which included lunchtime audits, personal
group talks etc., the AMP noticed that teenagers were very
well aware of their unstable and unhealthy diets and was perceived
as too big of a change to eat more healthier. They came up with a
strategy which involved inspiring them, which involved showing how
making small changes leads to big rewards that they will notice both
immediately and in the future. (AMP Agency, 22 March 2013)
Children’s book cover and stickers designs

It was also important to educate parents and other family members
about the importance of healthy eating for this to work. To do that,
ALDI launched a website which supported the campaign and also
attempts at educating them about it. Adding on to it all, ALDI has
also come up with a number of larger cookbooks and lunch packs
which are specifically designed for adults. (Tattershall, Louisse,
2013)
Graphic design has also found its way into a number of projects
and campaigns as just a supporting factor to boost them. A case
study was conducted by the AMP agency on the project “Change
One Thing” which was for a client called Food Bank For New York
City, which ran for an entire year from July-September 2011 to
July-September 2012. Looking at the bank’s background, they are
one of the United States’ largest food banks that aim at eradicating
hunger by helping feed the poor throughout the city and by also
providing nutrition related educational programs for around 40,000
children and adults. This also includes a number of poor people
that spreads up to 2.6 million people in just New York City itself.
(AMP Agency, 22 March 2013)
To counter this, the AMP Agency came up with a social strategic responsibility
program that focused itself on educating the youth from
low-income households in the states on healthy eating, mainly the
ones from the five boroughs situated in New York city. Their target
was to reach around a 100,000 teenagers all of who met a very
strict criterion as defined by the USDA, who are also the funders of
the campaign. (AMP Agency, 22 March 2013)
To spread the word about the campaign, they used both traditional
and non- traditional methods. One of them was the use of billboards,
some of which showed off handmade adaptations of their
ads, all of which were strategically placed all over the city in transit
stations. Other methods also included spreading the word about
the campaign on radio stations by setting up specialized promotions
and also showed up at various local events along with the branded
materials from the campaign. Amongst all the methods involved in
the process of spreading the news, the use of a customized food
truck, which gave out nutritious, healthy food during the summer
and even featured an interactive game about healthy eating habits,
was also considered. (AMP Agency, 22 March 2013)
Looking at the designing bit of the campaign, a photo shoot was
done with a man named Gary Sloan in his studio, showing many
horrible looking snack foods along with the hero portrayed healthy
foods. This was taken up to counter ads out there, which influenced
children to make bad food choices on a daily basis. A number of
techniques were used to show the fast foods as unappealing in
nature by showing them sweat, melt and drip. The healthier food
images were places strategically next to the unhealthy ones to
emphasize their importance. The ads also used bright colors to add
to make the good foods more prominent to catch people’s attention
along with the use of clean and solid band of colors to bring out the
headlines. (AMP Agency, 22 March 2013) To add on to the design
involved, transit advertising and traditional billboards were used to
advertise the campaign.
The AMP agency also used various other strategies like spreading
the word through radio stations by getting into a partnership with
the stations, and the use of traditional methods like hand painted,
neighborhood mural paintings. The food truck previously mentioned
made its way all over the city to summer camps, teen centers,
etc. Children were allowed to learn and play an interactive, creatively
designed game, which taught them about the benefits and
advantages of healthy food, bringing to light the consequences of
consuming bad foods. The food truck also handed on free samples
of frozen fruit pops, recipe books for teens, sliced apples etc. (AMP
Agency, 22 March 2013)
“Change One Thing” ran for an entire year and proved to be a success
showing a significant change in the behavior of teenagers all
over the city. A ten percent rise in the importance of healthy eating
amongst low-income children was noticed. According to the case
study, “
Children playing an interactive health food game on the food truck
they had changed their eating behaviors while the campaign was in
market.
fifty percent of the respondents stated that
Sixty-eight percent of these respondents report that they are trying
to make
healthier eating decisions and 64 percent report that they are
thinking more
about how what they choose to eat will affect them in the future.”
(AMP Agency,
22 March 2013)
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