1 Los Angeles Collaborative Meeting Overview of Youth Activism Against Obesity March 26, 2009

2 Youth Activism Against Obesity (YAAO) South LA & Baldwin Park This project was made possible by a grant from the Vitamin Cases Consumer Settlement Fund. Created as a result of an antitrust class action, one of the purposes of the Fund is to improve the health and nutrition of California Consumers.

3 YAAO Goals P: Increase middle school and HS students’ awareness of the health risks of consuming fast food & soda and promote health food choices and PA. S: Increase student’s involvement in food policy advocacy in school, in the community & the online community Methodology: –Evidenced-based marketing strategies –Social marketing utilizing Internet social networks –Peer leadership –Engaging youth as problem solvers –Strong focus on a Youth Participatory Model

4 Apathy Education Awakening Personal Change Activism Advocacy Social Change YAAO’s Marketing Objective

5 What we know about the target Limited grasp of valid nutritional, health and exercise knowledge Deceptive marketing/advertising creates anger but they don’t go beyond it Willingness to get behind cause considered worthy Advice from adults is NOT cool Would eat less FF if that made them more attractive Digital natives, social networkers and natural born texters Some are natural leaders, others followers – must target both

6 Media Usage (Oct 2008) 74% (ages 8-18) live in a home with Internet 60% have access to IM ~ 6 hrs/d (ages 8-18) using media (>1/time) ’99-04 (alt) youth reported using C/I for recreation increased from 27  62 min daily & Internet surfing from 7  14 min. daily RWJ: Food and Beverage Marketing to Children & Adolescents: What Changes are Needed to Promote Healthy Eating Habits? October, 2008

7 Connected Teens Text messaging doubled 2 to 4.7 billion messages sent (2003 – 2004) 66% of 13 – 24 yr olds routinely text message (2008) 3:4 (ages 15-17) 40% (ages 12-14) Carry their own cell phone Center for Science in the Public Interest and RWJ Research 2008

8 Global Village You Tube.com M clips viewed daily 65K uploaded daily My Space.com 124 million profiles posted in 2.5 years mid-2006 attracted 230K new users/d facebook.com 8/6/2006 – 100 millionth account 9/8/2006 – 106 millionth account

9 Training topics Nutrition and healthy eating Physical activity Youth as Change Agents The Photovoice Project Media Literacy Social Marketing Working with Celebrities Website Creation / Management Website Messaging Web Video Production

The teen approach Early Adolescents –More receptive to adults –Rely on adults for direction –“Just say no!” works Middle to Late adolescents –More concerned with physical appearance –Less receptive to authority –Look to differentiate themselves –Do not like to be told what to do 10 Newberger, E (1999). The Men They Will Become. Perseus Publishing.

What have we learned so far? As students get older, they get less encouragement to conduct PA from their parents 18% surveyed said that they often do physical activity with their friends. 9 th graders usually tend to overestimate their weights compared to 10, 11, 12 graders ~60% non-youth leaders (NYL) eat fast food 1-2/week ~20% NYL report eating fresh fruit every day ~26% NYL report eating vegetables every day ~45% NYL report eat home cooked meals every day 11

12 Best practice: truth R campaign Evidenced-based research National youth-focused anti-tobacco education campaign Empower teens to make informed decisions Blame placed on the industry, not the youth

13

14 Ning What is it? Platform for creating Social Networks Offers the latest social networking features Powers the largest number of social networks on the Internet

15 Social Media Campaign Flow YAAO Web site & Social Network Social Networks User-driven social content Web sites Viral Articles Traffic / Links Viral Videos Traffic / Links Involvement Viral Video

16 Creating Opportunities Youth collaboration and network with four remaining HEAC sites in CA Youth collaboration with network and non-network funded agencies sharing same goals Youth become content creators Youth find their advocacy voice Peer to peer mentoring Empower youth to take responsibility, speak up, raise awareness, organize, and drive real change in their communities

17 Wild Posting # 1

18 Wild Posting # 2

19 Wild Posting # 3

20 YAAO - Empowering Youth to Lead Change!