Social Marketing Plan For Promoting Healthy Eating Behaviour Among Children In Australia

Literature Review

1. What type of journals I can address to frame my literature review?

2. Do I need to use the idea that I have established in the literature review in part B of my report.?

The aim of the paper is to understand the issue of malnutrition in children and develop practical application of models, approaches, and techniques in “social marketing” to the identified social problem. The paper discusses how the social marketing plan was developed to promote healthy eating behavior among children and eliminate the issue of children malnutrition using the social marketing framework developed by the commercial marketers.

A rich literature is available highlighting a high rate of malnutrition among Australian children (Haynes et al. 2016). According to Rosen et al. (2014), many children in Australia have adopted the broad spectrum of different diets as this country has high cultural diversity. The present trends of children diet reflect a gross overconsumption of fast food and saturated fats habitually. A very low percentage of children in Australia are consuming nutrient dense food. The results of poor nutrition include obesity, anemia, vitamin and mineral deficiency diseases (Morris et al. 2016).

The reports of Brindal et al. (2014) showed the nutritional consequences of the diet rich in fast food. The study executed focused on the fast food purchasing behavior of the Australian children above ten years. The results showed that 28.3% of this children consumed ready-to-eat fast food once in a week. It further found that the 80.3% the respondents consumed fast food diet in 6 months of the serving taking place. However, the study does not emphasize or recommend any model for promoting healthy eating behavior among children. Brindal et al. (2014) studied that the popular children fast food chains such as McDonald’s, Dominos, and Hungary jacks offer food with little nutritional value and high-calorie content. The junior meal of Hungary Jack containing “Whopper Junior, small chips and a medium Coke” has 30.5g of fat content and 3147KJ calories. With the increase in fast food chain restaurants and being readily available there is a greater shift towards consuming pre-prepared meals. There is a cultural acceptance of fast food in Australia.

 A similar study by O’Dea and Dibley (2014) highlighted that as per the “National food intake data” many children between the age 10-18 years intake very few servings of foods rich in nutrition such as dairy foods, green vegetables, fruits and whole grains. Further, the study highlighted that the children are consuming foods rich in sugars, sodium, and fats more than the recommended servings. As per the study results, these dietary pattern prevents children from taking vital nutrients. Consequently, it is increasing the risk of chronic disease such as type II diabetes. In Australia, the new cases of type 2 diabetes in 2014 in children (10-14 years) was found to be 3 in 100,000 populations and for children of 15-19 years was found to be 8 in 100,000.

Social Marketing Plan

Grube et al. (2013) described eating habits healthy or unhealthy once developed in childhood are established by the age of 15, and in due course it becomes habitual. Due to increasing consumption of fast food, there is a growing number of overweight and obese children in Australia. These children continue to stay overweight and obese in adulthood. Further, the study by Olds et al. (2013) highlighted that the children of obese parents remain obese and continue to ignore the importance of healthy eating behavior or staying fit. Some Australian researchers have studied that absence of nutrient dense food is associated with mental illness although the exact relationship was not known. In a large-scale study conducted in Western Australia it was found that the people who highly consumed a “western dietary pattern” in their childhood that mainly comprised of soft drinks, fast food, confectionary, full fat dairy products; and refined grains commonly had high scores of psychological symptoms such withdrawal, aggression and depression (Miller et al. 2014). These studies found that people who have consumed healthy dietary pattern which comprises of vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains in their childhood had the lower percentage of psychological symptoms. A similar study by Forbes et al. (2015) revealed that children having breakfast consisting three or more food groups were found with better mental health scores in the adolescence. Researchers investigated that fortified breakfast cereals, milk, and bread are a good source of vitamins, calcium, and other nutrients that enhance the brain function (Choo 2016).

As per Burns et al. (2015), the “Public Health and the Nutritional Organisational Study” the lower socioeconomic groups within Australia have inferior nutritional standards. Random households were selected from Melbourne for this study. It investigated the correlation between the fast food consumption and the financial condition. According to the results 330 households out of 2500 examined were found experiencing the financial crisis. Consequently, these families opted for fast food alternatives instead of healthy food. The study recommended making available health food alternatives at a lower price. Christopher Grant (2015) studied nutritional habits of Aboriginal Australians, and the results showed that 11% of children (2-14) in this community are malnourished and underweight and 35% between 15-18 years are obese. A similar study by Dyer et al. (2015) showed that 85% of these Indigenous children do not intake recommended quantity of vegetables. Another redeeming nutritional factor for these groups of children is the physical activity which is more than the required daily average hours. However, the level of physical activity is not balanced with the dietary consumption.  Moreover, Indigenous Australians were found with the higher prevalence of Overweight and Obesity. Roberto and Kawachi (2014) argued that most healthy eating campaigns are not successful as they fail to lack elements necessary to induce behavioural change in children. These campaigns mainly help parents in understanding the significance of nutrient dense food in early life. It suggested a need of psychology and behavioural economy to promote healthyeating

Based on the literature review it can be concluded that eating habits and patterns in childhood highly correlate with behaviors in the adulthood. Malnutrition in children is a burning problem in Australia. The increasing depth of nutritional concerns warrants large-scale interventions. Therefore, interventions for child malnutrition must focus on behavior change in childhood. There is a need to promote healthy eating behavior in children.

In this project, the social marketing plan aims to gain extensive knowledge on the targeted audience. Based on this knowledge a nutrient dense food promoting program for the children is developed the concepts of which can be applied to a broad range of social conditions and health behaviours.

Social marketing refers to planning, implementing and evaluating programs developed to bring about a change in the health behaviors that is efficient and sustainable using techniques developed by the commercial marketers (Tobey et al. 2016). This study uses the “exchange theory” for the purpose of social marketing. The exchange theory refers to voluntary exchange of resources between the consumers and the providers which is necessary for true marketing to occur (Baker and Saren 2016). Further, the study implements four Ps of marketing which are “Product, Price, Place, and promotions”. In this project, the term “Product” refers to “behavior change” among the target audience. It refers to the competition relate to the product, the benefits associated with the change in the unhealthy eating behavior among the children, and the needs that the product can fulfill. The team Price refers to the cost that each target audience has to pay regarding effort, lifestyle, money, to engage in the desired behavior change. The term places refer to the perceptions of the target members regarding the place where the products are available or if any barriers are associated with it. The term promotion refers to communication with the target audience regarding the products through a combination of media relations, personal selling, advertising and entertainment (Grönroos 2016).

Using standard practices, the study conducted focus group interviews for collecting information from the children (Dilshad and Latif 2013.). The respondents were asked to describe their perceptions about the consequences of eating nutritional food. They were further asked to state the barriers of taking nutrient dense food such as the low-fat dairy food, green leafy vegetables, and whole grains. The interview further focused on the children’s preferences in learning about healthy eating behavior and food & nutrition. The descriptive information was collected from low-income middle schools students (34) between 11-14 years in Melbourne.         The process involved a moderator, two adults, and co-moderator in all the discussion. The interview process was guided by the Extension nutrition specialists. The study included seven focus groups categorized based on grades and gender. The interview process was collected in School, and for each focus group, it lasted for 55 minutes and fully audiotaped. The data in the form of transcripts were codified according to the method discussed in (Silverman 2016). The questions (Appendix) developed using the four Ps methods to the social program were used to summarize the results. 

From the product related information it was found that most of the participants enjoyed eating fast food due to their satisfaction of food carvings and highly enjoyed the taste of the fast food. Most of the participants loved to eat chocolates, fruits milk, and yogurt. Very few participants enjoyed eating vegetables. The reason for this behavior based on the information provided by the students include convenience in eating yogurt, and fruits, familiarity with the food, and abatement of hunger  (mainly found in boys and is not associated with the specific group of foods) and improved physical and scholastic performance associated with whole grains and dairy food. When asked to state generalized benefits of eating vegetables most of them answered in vague terms such as “it is healthy,” “they are good for our body.” Most common answer derived from the students includes consumption of dairy foods, and calcium-containing beverages lead to strong bones and teeth. No psychological benefits were found from other food groups. It was found that it was difficult for the children to describe what healthy eating is and its benefits.

When the participants were asked about stating the cost associated with changing their eating behaviour into healthier one the responses indicated unpleasant taste due to deeply coloured vegetables and non-fat milk. Further, cost issues are high inconvenience in cooking whole grain foods and vegetables as it requires more time and effort, lack of familiarity with  low-fat dairy food and other vegetables, dry texture and coarseness of whole grains and unpleasant taste associated with most vegetables (mainly among girls) and milk. Based on the response it is evident that the participants do not perceive that the cost associated with the change in eating behavior is a fair exchange. The recommendations suggested by the respondents for minimizing the cost associated with healthy eating includes- adding chocolate to milk, honey to whole grains, hot sauce or butter to bread, vegetables, cooked cereals, and cheese to vegetables and cereals. Further, the participants suggested that the unpleasant taste of certain food groups can be altered or disguised by serving them with most preferred food groups for example serving cookies with milk and bread, adding vegetables to soup, having cereal or bread with milk.

Place related barriers affecting healthy eating choices in these children include misperceptions that nutrient dense food is less available than the fast food, food choices were limited to that purchased by their parents, and items available in the local market, food cooked by the cafeteria workers and food served by their parents in their house. Therefore the two strategies to reduce the barriers associated with place includes changing the food purchasing habits of others particularly parent and improve their food preparation skills and as well as of children as per Woodruff and Kirby (2013). To know the level of interest of the children with regards to food advertisements they were asked to state their preferences when communicating about food products. Most of the participants answered that they like to consume food that is good to taste, visually appealing, readily available, half cooked or ready to eat, convenient to purchase and have high familiarity. Participants described that they enjoyed food advertisements that contained humor, the element of surprises that exaggerated everyday occurrences, and informing heath consequences. These participants commonly preferred music videos, radio contests, computer games, cooking shows, as a means of communicating health messages. They mentioned that they mainly receive health and nutrition-related messages from their parents and enjoyed to learn from classmates and when demonstrated by school teachers. They showed a high preference for the school cafeteria, libraries, in health centers, clinics, movie halls, and community parks for receiving the nutrient education.

Since the required descriptive information is obtained, the next step is to develop a market plan for increasing the consumption of the nutrient dense food among children in Australia. Firstly, calcium containing food and beverages will be targeted which contains personal benefits such as taste enjoyment, readily available, specific psychological benefits, and convenient. Therefore, the product strategy is to position nutrient dense food as the substitute for other competitors for example substituting sodas with orange juices containing calcium or sweets with flavoured yogurt (Roberto and Kawachi 2014). The target audiences are highly likely to adopt healthy eating behavior if varieties of food items in the product line are available. With more number of calcium-rich food products entering the market, the product line is expanding (Bigliardi and Galati 2013). Secondly, the pricing strategy aims to implement cost minimizing strategies suggested by the respondents to multivitamin containing foods and beverages. Further, food products that will mainly be targeted are those having fewer cost issues such as flavored yogurt. Thirdly, the placement strategy for the product includes increasing the accessibility, availability, and visibility of the food products mentioned by the respondents keeping in view the nutrient factor, cost, availability, taste and other preferences of the students. For occasions where the targeted audiences prepare their food the strategy is to promote dishes that are simple to prepare and less time consuming, for example, cream soups, and puddings rich vitamins and minerals (Wingert et al. 2014).

The promotional strategy for the products includes delivering messages that the foods and beverages containing calcium are highly tasty and readily available. The rationale is to enhance the eating behavior change among the targeted children. The strategy is to contrast the significance of required calcium consumption during the “adolescent growth spurt” with the prevalence of “inadequate calcium intake among children.” To demonstrate the importance of the calcium rich food products, the materials/media incorporates three-dimensional models, simple texts, graphs, and funny images depicting how calcium strengthens bone and consequences of inadequate calcium on health (Naderer et al. 2016). Provide nutrient education to children in their preferred locations and guide them to use “Food Guide Pyramid” particularly the group containing milk, cheese, yogurt and other study materials that will help the children to identify calcium and iron rich foods (Wingert et al. 2014). Engage children after school in activities that demonstrate the health importance of vitamins and minerals. Develop a sustainable program for nutrient education in schools using teachers as delivery channels and further promotions through cafeteria and classroom activities. Involve family members in the homework assignments (Roberto and Kawachi 2014).

Conclusion

The paper illustrated the way of using the social marketing plan to collect information from schoolchildren for developing a healthy eating program. Social marketing is a useful tool for extension educators for changing health behavior in people and can be adapted for any target audience.

The strategy statement is to increase the consumption of nutrient rich food in school children by changing their misperception about the cost and benefits associated with consuming nutrient dense food. Enhance children’s familiarity with food products that is nutritious, tasty, and convenient to cook, less preparation time and use media and materials popular in the target audience. Increase awareness of nutrient dense food among children, parents, and teachers through nutrient education programs and demonstrate the importance of healthy eating and skills required to adopt such behavior.

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