TV Commercial Review
Memorable
Effective
Style
Heart or Humor
Execution
Good
ITV and Veg Power unveiled an interesting commercial named “Eat Them To Defeat Them”.
ITV and Veg Power are enlisting the help of kids to defeat the vegetables by eating them. Battling it out against the mighty vegetable, the kids will have a “swede” deal as they take out an array of leafy greens, and uproot carrots, parsnips, and celery sticks, plus many more vegetables. Prepare yourselves because it’s not going to be “peas-ful” as the veg battle kicks off across the UK today.
ITV invites you to tune into Coronation Street tonight and “turnip” up, as ITV and Veg Power introduce the Eat Them To Defeat Them ad.
ITV and Veg Power have joined forces with leading supermarkets to inspire kids to eat vegetables and improve the nation’s health.
Here are a few reasons for launching the #EatThemToDefeatThem campaign:
The UK ranks 21 out of 28 in the EU for fresh vegetable consumption.
96% of teenagers and 80% of primary school age children don’t eat enough vegetables.
44% of children will remove at least some, if not all of the salad from a burger.
Nearly half of parents (49.2%) wait at least 5 minutes or more at family mealtime for their children to finish their vegetables, that equates to 30 hours a year.
The press release:
“Eat Them To Defeat Them is a radical new national advertising campaign, launching today, Friday 25th January on ITV, and STV, that aims to inspire kids to eat more healthily and help tackle rising childhood obesity.
Despite past campaigns 80% of primary school kids still aren’t eating enough vegetables and this ground breaking initiative looks to change that. The campaign is being launched by a partnership between ITV and Veg Power and Eat Them To Defeat Them will engage with kids and parents in a new way, looking to reinvigorate how vegetables are viewed and consumed.
The campaign has been funded by a unique alliance of supermarkets and brands that have donated to the Eat Them To Defeat Them initiative. Aldi, Asda, Birds Eye, Co-op, Iceland, Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsburys, Tesco and Waitrose all coming together to help their customers live healthier lives.
Prominent UK advertising agency adam&eveDDB have created the ambitious 60’ advert that will premiere on prime-time ITV during Coronation Street tonight (Friday 25th January) and across ITV’s biggest programmes including The Voice, Dancing on Ice and Britain’s Got Talent. It is brave and bold and will push boundaries and engage with kids like no other healthy eating initiative has done before.
The campaign will be supported across ITV by talent and programming, it also has the support of writer and broadcaster Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver.
The advert and supporting creative including posters, stickers and wall charts, will editorially position kids as the heroes as they help their parents save the world from being overrun by angry vegetables. They have to Eat Them To Defeat Them.
Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, Food Writer and Broadcaster said: “I’m really pleased and excited to be involved in Veg Power. Getting our kids to eat more vegetables is simply vital – and it’s never been more so. This campaign is brave, fun and engaging. It will inspire kids to enjoy the huge range of tastes, textures and colours that the brilliant world of veg has to offer. A diet that’s big on vegetables will be a massive win for our long term health. I’m hoping to see carrots and broccoli flying off the shelves!”
Carolyn McCall, CEO, ITV said: “This campaign will reach millions of parents and children through our biggest and most popular shows and it is unlike anything that has gone before. We’re proud to use the power of TV to take a new, bold and brave approach to encouraging kids to eat more vegetables.”
Baroness Rosie Boycott, Chair of Veg Power and trustee of The Food Foundation said: “We are delighted that Veg Power has joined with ITV to launch our very first campaign Eat Them To Defeat Them. With the aim of using ‘advertising for good’ and engaging and entertaining kids rather than using the well-worn health message, we can really shift the dial and hope to see long lasting behaviour change. Having all the major retailers will help us achieve huge reach and impact.
It is vital that we achieve change in both supply and demand if we are to see real transformation of our food system and our work with both Peas Please and Veg Power are tackling both straight on.”
Veg Power is born out of the work of The Food Foundation and Peas Please. It aims to harness the great creative minds of the advertising and marketing world and turn their skills to making engaging and powerful content aimed at changing our perception of vegetables in order to encourage our kids to eat more. The Veg Power fund aims to use positive messages of vitality, vibrancy and wonderful taste to give vegetables a modern appeal.
Other key partners in the campaign include The Beano, ResearchBods, Goodstuff and Taylor Herring. We will be conducting an evaluation with expert input from Kantar Worldpanel, University of Cambridge & University of Oxford and support from Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity. ”
Veg Statistics
All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2014 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 4th – 7th January 2019. The survey was carried out online. The figures are representative of all UK adults (aged 18+).
Getting kids to eat veg is as a battle
• Nearly half of parents (48%) agree that it can be a battle to get their kids to eat more veg
• 51.7% of parents have to tell their kids to finish their veg.
• 44% of children will remove at least some, if not all, of the salad from a burger.
• 43% of adults say their children are fussier eaters than when they were children
Parents end up waiting for their kids to eat up veg
• Nearly half of parents (49.2%) wait at least 5 minutes or more at family mealtime for their children to finish their vegetables, (that equates to 30 hours a year)
For some, getting kids to eat veg is a source of arguments
• Nearly 1 in 5 parents (17%) agree that asking their children to eat up their vegetables is a source of arguments
Parents wish their kids ate more veg
• 71.4% of parents wish their child ate more vegetables
And parents would buy more if they knew their kids would eat them.
• Over half of parents (58%) would buy more vegetables if they knew their children would eat them
But parents don’t lead by example.
• More than half (55%) of parents choose chips as a side dish over salad and veg when eating out.
Parents recognise that their kids only eat veg if they are encouraged to do so
• 76.5% of adults have to encourage their children to eat more veg
Parents are resorting to using rewards and threats to encourage kids to eat their greens
• Half of parents use the phrase ‘You’ll be strong if you eat your vegetables’ to get their child to eat their veg, followed closely with 39% using the threat of ‘You won’t get dessert if you don’t eat your vegetables’.
• 21% won’t let their child leave the table until they’ve eaten their veg.
• 18% use rewards as a way to encourage veg eating
Parents have to throw out a lot of veg that doesn’t get eaten.
• More than 8 out of 10 parents (83%) have thrown away leftover vegetables from their children’s plates after a meal
• A third of parents (32.8%) often throw away leftover vegetables from their children’s plates after a meal.
Uneaten veg stops parents from buying veg
• 59.7% of parents would buy more veg if they knew they’d be eaten before their best before date.
Parents would buy more veg if they knew it’d get eaten.
• 57.7% of parents would buy more veg if they knew their kids would eat them
• 51% would purchase vegetables more often if they were cheaper on offer or promotion.
Most Loved and most hated veg
Sweetcorn (21%) and carrots (20%) are children (0-17 years) favourite vegetables with butternut squash, cabbage and cauliflower the least favourite.