Advertising Professors Contribute to Texas Department of Agriculture Ad Campaign

Neal Burns works with the Texas Department of Agriculture on Ad campaign

Dr. Neal Burns has teamed up with fellow faculty members Matt Eastin and Sean Thompson to work on a children's health campaign for the Department of Agriculture. They have created a plan that is still in testing, but that will hopefully be a successful nationwide healthy eating campaign. He is trying to reach tweens via nontraditional forms of media, like for instance their mobile devices.

He first got involved with this campaign through a colleague he had at the Department of Agriculture. Dr. Burns has always had a passion for the improvement of children's issues related to nutrition, exercise and obesity. He, along with other experts in the field, believe that this is a national epidemic amongst tweens across the country. The Food and Nutrition Division of the Texas Department of Agriculture received funding from the National Department of Agriculture to begin this healthy eating campaign.

Dr. Burns would like tweens to understand the importance of getting enough exercise, eating properly, and to beware of childhood obesity. He knows that tweens and teens don't want to be lectured to, so they must be reached via other alternatives. Ideally, this will all be approved and ready for March Breakfast Week in public schools. This is all surrounding the main theme of kids being ‘Smartivores’ – kids who understand what to eat. There will possibly be games, posters, meal trays all relating back to the Smartivore campaign.  Eventually, there will be top entertainers from all different races sharing a message of aspiration to kids across the nation.

Hopefully, after this media campaign, tweens will understand the meaning and importance of making smart choices about what they’re eating, and the lifestyle they’re choosing. Unhealthy eating can lead to many health problems, including diabetes and dental problems, and especially obesity.