The eat brighter! campaign, forged through a joint alliance of the Produce Marketing Association and Sesame Workshop in conjunction with the Partnership for a Healthier America, is already having an impact on the lives of young school children, their parents and caregivers.

The program, designed to encourage consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables among children, piggybacks on the successes of beloved and colorful Sesame Street characters and the highly successful Sesame Street brand to get its message across.Sesame Street’s Big Bird is joined by first lady Michelle Obama, honorary chair of the Partnership for a Healthier America, and Billy Eichner, Funny Or Die/NBC comedian, in the Grocery Store video to promote the eat brighter! campaign. The video has been viewed over 550,000 times and is being considered for an Emmy nomination. (Photo courtesy of the Produce Marketing Association)

The program has been extended through the end of 2018, and Mexico has been added as an approved market, joining the United States and Canada in the campaign.

Results of a recent participant study conducted by PMA reveal just how much of an impact eat brighter! has had. Kathy Means, vice president of industry relations with PMA, said this is only the second full school for the campaign.

Here are some hot-off-the-press comments and insights. “On average, participants are reporting a 1 percent to 2 percent increase in sales,” Means told The Produce News.

Some industry kudos and observations provided to PMA by survey participants include:

• “Characters: biggest booth draw ever.”  
• “Beyond kids, appeals to broad demographic.”
• “Accessible to every company.”
• “Helps lead change with consumers.”
•  “Unifying across the industry.”
• “Staggering retail results; ran short of bags.”
• “Game-changer for our industry.”
• “Volume up with several retail outlets.”
• “Well-accepted by retailers and consumers.”
• “Love the graphics, message.”
• “Increase sales volume, merchandising capabilities.”
• “Excellent job getting retailers on board.”

The eat brighter! branded program is primarily delivered through suppliers and retail outlets via grocery stores. “There are opportunities for daycares and the lower elementary classes, especially through their produce suppliers,” Means said.

A royalty-free turnkey toolkit has been tweaked with more graphics and ideas for participants. “We do encourage retail participants to take advantage of the autumn/back-to-school seasonal point-of-sale graphics provided in the eat brighter! toolkit,” Means added.

Industry participation in the campaign continues to grow. “The number changes as we are adding new folks all the time. And once a company signs up, they are approved for the length of the initiative, now through the end of 2018,” Means commented. “So it is a continual build. When we add up all the participants — suppliers, promotional organizations, retailers either sublicensed themselves or accepting eat brightr!-labeled product — we have about 110 companies participating, representing 130 commodities out of around 155 and 30,000 grocery stores.”

Means was asked how PMA and participants get the word out about eat brighter! “We rely on our participants to reach into their communities, mostly through retail grocery stores,” she responded. “Stores are where people make their purchasing decisions, and we want to be marketing to parents and kids like the cereal, soda, candy, chips companies do. We want kids to demand fruits and vegetables — and they will and do when they see these favorite characters. We also have seen some great interactions and engagement through #eatbrighter on social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Consumers and participants alike are sharing the message — and we couldn’t be happier about it.”

Although the campaign is primarily conducted through retailers and suppliers, Means added, “We are looking to reach lower-grade elementary students and daycares through suppliers. This is not a program aimed at schools, so this outreach is gravy for us. If suppliers are working with schools, they provide eat brighter!-labeled products to the foodservice operation.”

Chris Veillon, director of marketing for Nature Fresh Farms Sales Inc., provided some feedback about ways in which companies can become directly involved at the local level. Veillon said Nature Fresh Farms is supplying cases of fresh tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers to three schools in the Leamington School District in Ontario, Canada, during its three-week Summer Learning Program. A total of 100 school children are participating in the program, and the supplied produce will be used as snacks and part of the children’s lunch program.

“By the end of the program, we will have provided 20 different Sesame Workshop coloring and activity sheets for the kids to use. Our corporate chef, Henry Furtado, will be touring all three schools on July 16 to talk about healthy eating, the importance of the need to eat brighter,” Veillon said. “Chef Henry will also be making bell pepper smoothies with the kids, too.” Nature Fresh Farms hopes to deliver Sesame Workshop branded “eat brighter!” T-shirts to all children in the schools Chef Henry visits.

Means was asked about the participation of first lady Michelle Obama in the eat brighter! campaign. Obama is the honorary chair of the Partnership for a Healthier America. “The Grocery Games video with Michelle Obama, Big Bird and Funny Or Die/NBC comedian Billy Eichner was a fabulous, amazingly generous show of support,” she replied. “It has reached more than 550,000 times. It’s even being considered for an Emmy. Mrs. Obama remains fully supportive, and she has indicated that her commitment to reducing childhood obesity will continue after she and her husband leave the White House.”