The government is launching a £275m marketing campaign to tackle the obesity crisis with a TV ad that aims to kick start a "lifestyle revolution" and be on the scale of Make Poverty History and Comic Relief.
The TV ad, which breaks tomorrow, was timed to coincide with health-related new year pledges made in the wake of festive over-indulgence.
The Department of Health's Change4Life campaign includes £75m of government marketing over three years and a pledge of £200m in services and marketing support from a 33-strong coalition of companies.
It aims to prevent the forecast that by 2050 up to 90% of today's children will be overweight or obese.
"Change4Life has a critical ambition. We are trying to create a lifestyle revolution on a huge scale, something which no government has attempted before," said public health minister Dawn Primarolo.
"We have adopted ideas from successful movements such as Make Poverty History and Comic Relief. We want families to engage with the campaign and understand that obesity is not someone else's problem."
ITV will contribute to the campaign by broadcasting two prime-time Saturday night shows, this month and in March, called the "Feelgood Factor" to encourage viewers to lose weight, eat healthily and take more exercise.
The government's first 90-second TV advert, made by ad agency M&C Saatchi, uses animated characters to explain how the evolution of the human race from the lifestyle of cavemen to our sedentary existence has impacted upon waistlines.
The TV ad, which will be supported by billboard and magazine ads, pushes the message "Eat well, Move More and Live Longer."
The government's work is being supported by a wide-ranging media coalition organised through the Advertising Association.
PepsiCo, which owns Pepsi, Walkers and Tropicana, will run an ad campaign to promote the benefits of "active play" featuring well-known sportsmen and women.
PepsiCo has celebrities including David Beckham and Gary Lineker on its books – but has not yet revealed who will appear in the campaign.
Unilever will use its Flora dairy brand and its sponsorship of the London Marathon to promote a healthy message. The marathon route will be rebranded as Change4Life with runners and spectators given handouts.
The marathon tie-up will, however, be shortlived, with Virgin set to replace Flora in a £17m five-year deal from 2010.
Kelloggs will expand its breakfast clubs and co-brand its swimming inititiative as Swim4Life. Asda will launch Bike4Life and Tesco will promote the Change4Life message in its stores nationwide.
Co-operative Group will support the anti-obesity message in its 2,200 food stores and 800 pharmacies, while charities such as Cancer Research, Diabetes UK and the British Heart Foundation will work together to highlight the risks of an unhealthy lifestyle.
The government has been holding talks through the Advertising Association with BSkyB and Kraft, but has not announced if the companies will join the initiative.
Recent reports by Ofcom, the Advertising Standards Authority and the Department of Health all found that measures introduced to curb advertising of junk food to children had showed some success.
But earlier this week a report from a campaigning organisation claimed that some companies use "back door" tactics to market to children in the classroom.
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