Spot the Block: Developing the Social Marketing Approach

Background:  In conceiving of the most effective ways to create behavior change among tweens and specific populations, ICF used Social Cognitive Theory as the cornerstone of the parent and minority outreach portions of the campaign.

Program background: As a first step, ICF understood that individuals must understand the Nutrition Facts Label and also how that label translates to healthy eating in their families. ICF’s approach involved offering small bits of relevant and applicable information that parents could easily use in their daily life. Outreach focused on meeting parents “where they were”—both meeting them physically and understanding what their knowledge base consisted of. Curriculum and pedagogical approaches were created that could be executed in a short period of time and delivered in a variety of settings and to a range of audiences, including parents alone and parents with tweens.  ICF’s training of community educators to work with African American and Hispanic populations emphasized interactive and visual learning, with a priority placed on communicating the three key steps in an engaging and culturally effective format. ICF provided extensive training, technical assistance, and resources to community educators on teaching practices and adapting the curriculum to meet audience needs. Working with educators, ICF determined that it was important to tap into existing channels of information for both the African American population and the Hispanic population. All campaign elements were designed to increase individual self-efficacy in understanding and using the Nutrition Facts Label to make better dietary choices.

Evaluation Methods and Results: Community educators assessed and discussed participant knowledge of the Nutrition Facts Label prior to and following the training.  Parents overwhelmingly lacked an understanding of the Nutrition Facts Label prior to the training.  Following the training were able to speak to the key campaign messages and when asked to conduct an activity, such as packing a healthy mock lunch, they were able to do so confidently. Online interactions and impressions were also tracked – more than 100 million were exposed to the campaign via the media partnership.  

Conclusions: Grounding this program in Social Cognitive Theory, focusing on meeting parents and tweens “where they were” both physically and knowledge-wise, and employing several best practices strategies created an effective campaign to increase awareness of the Nutrition Facts Label, increase understanding of the Label, and influence healthy eating behaviors.

Implications for research and/or practice: Behavior change campaigns must take into account the cultural, socioeconomic, and daily reality of the populations they wish to influence and provide small amounts of applicable and accessible information that can be easily incorporated into daily routines.