Campaign proven to get kids eating veg returns to screens and in 65schools across County Durham
2023 campaign will give parents the confidence to keep vegetables in their shopping baskets as veg sales decrease due to cost-of-living crisis
Veg Power and ITV announced today that their multi-award winning Eat Them To Defeat
Them campaign, proven to get kids eating veg, has returned for its fifth consecutive year
with 2,350 primary and special schools across the UK including 65 schools in County
Durham, set to benefit.
With 80% of children not consuming enough vegetables, the Eat Them To Defeat Them campaign inspires kids to eat more veg by combining the power of advertising with a schools’ programme. It brings together a huge alliance including TV advertising, celebrities,
supermarkets, chefs, schools, communities and families. In addition, with recent research
confirming veg sales have decreased across the country due to the cost-of-living crisis
, this year’s campaign aims to play a role in keeping vegetables in shopping baskets by giving parents the confidence they will not end up in the bin.
As part of the campaign, schools will be provided with meal themes and recipes that create
a fun narrative for children, turning popular school fare such as roasts, cottage pie and
pasta bake into mini-adventures. The kids become the heroes as they defeat the vegetables
by eating them. In addition to the recipes, schools will be provided with displays and
stickers, designed to create events to promote uptake of school meals and the veg within
them. Teaching staff will also receive curriculum-compliant lesson plans to create
excitement about the meal themes and support classroom learning about food, culture and
geography.
More than half the parents in schools participating in Eat Them to Defeat Them last year
said their children ate more vegetables as a direct result of the campaign. Since it launched
in 2019, the campaign has directly generated an additional £132m in vegetables sales,
equivalent to 1.4bn children’s veg portions. The campaign was recognised last year with the
prestigious Institute of Practitioners in Advertising President's Award for Behaviour Change.
The 2023 Eat Them To Defeat Them campaign is an alliance between ITV, Channel 4 and
Sky Media who have collectively contributed over £15m of advertising to this campaign
since it began. This year’s campaign, developed by adam&eveDDB who work on the
campaign pro bono, returned to TV screens during The Masked Singer on ITV. The schools’
programme involving 700,000 kids across the UK launched on Monday 20th February and
will run until 8th April. The campaign has been funded by major supermarket and food
brands Aldi, Co-op, Dole, Lidl, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.
Media agency Essence has also secured pro-bono contributions from advertising and media partners, including Acast, Spotify, Mail Online, Yahoo, First News, LadBible, Mail Metro Media, Ocean Outdoor, Clear Channel, JCDecaux and others in a huge drive to encourage children to feel more enthusiastic about eating vegetables.
Dan Parker, Chief Executive, Veg Power said, “Parents tell us they are more concerned than
ever about their finances and so rejected vegetables really worry them - they simply cannot
afford to risk them going to waste. Each year Eat Them to Defeat Them turns millions of
children into champions for vegetables, pestering their parents to serve them. This
enthusiasm is particularly important this year as it will give parents the confidence to keep
vegetables in their shopping baskets.”
Susie Braun, Director of Social Purpose at ITV, said: "Eat Them to Defeat Them has been
proven again and again to get children not just eating vegetables but getting excited aboutthem too. And that’s never been more important. We’re delighted to continue ITV and Veg Power’s partnership through this vital campaign.”