WE CAN! LET’S GO!
AND
LET’S MOVE!
Attempts at Moving the Needle on Childhood Obesity:
A Trio of Case Studies
Digital Strategies for Health Communication (HCOM512)
Jasmine Hunt
7/15/12

We Can! is a national movement designed to
give parents, caregivers, and entire communities a way
to help children 8 to 13 years old stay at a healthy
weight.

Eating healthy, being physically active, and limiting
screen time

Target audiences: children, parents, and community
partners
9 subpages
•5,657 Likes
•Posts include: healthy recipes, articles, ideas for physical
activity (relevant for summer), and questions
•Geared toward parents

YouTube page has 12 videos, 71 subscribers


PSAs, professionals talking about the program
Sponsored video contest- only shows winner and
runner-up
Strengths
Weaknesses
•NIH is a large and reputable government
•Facebook and all but one YouTube video are
agency
not available in Spanish
•Initiative is in collaboration with NHLBI,
•YouTube content bland and not engaging
NIDDK, NICHD, and NCI
•Change may be restricted by government
•Website is available in Spanish
bureaucracy
•Comprehensive content
•Social media use requires a disclaimer,
•Attractive homepage
privacy notice, and comment policy
•Previous successes (since 2005)
•Dense content
•Research-based program
•Complex and inconsistent navigation
•Easy to “get lost” in subpages and links
•Few Facebook “likes” and no Twitter account
Opportunities
Threats
•General interest in health, nutrition,
•Many other health organizations are
and physical activity
more engaging and visible in the public
•Technologies can support the spread
eye
of information, access, and connection
•Too many other things vying for
to others
parents’ attention
•Other websites more frequented for
health info
•Funding issues
•Belief that healthy food and exercise
cost a lot
•Some communities are not conducive
to exercise or have access to healthy
food
Let’s Go! is a nationally recognized childhood
obesity prevention program based in Maine.
 Main goal is to increase the proportion of youth,
ages 0-18, at a healthy weight. And they seek to
change policy and environments to support healthy
eating and active living.
 5-2-1-0 (5 or more fruits and vegetables, 2 hours or
less of recreational screen time, 1 hour or more of
physical activity, and 0 sugary drinks)
 Schools, after school programs, child care,
worksites, and health care

•1, 344 Likes
•Posts include: pictures from events, questions, links to articles, and
details on upcoming events.
•One-sided (who is this for?)
•56 followers, 96 tweets
•Tweets include: links to relevant articles, few events, questions
(no photos)
•Not updated regularly (last updated over 2 months ago)
•Branding
Strengths
Weaknesses
•Collaboration with over 56 schools, 7
large workplaces, 34 child care
programs, and 29 health care sites
•Partnered with Maine State Parks and
other community partners
•Model has gained national support
through the American Academy of
Pediatrics (AAP) and the Let’s Move
initiative
• Memorable, consistent message (5-21-0)
•Successful 5-year “demonstration
project”
•5-2-1-0 model picked up in other
states
•Recommendations based on medical
research
•Involvement in local, state, and
national initiatives
•Devoted staff and partners
•Website, Facebook, Twitter, and
YouTube videos are not available in
Spanish
•Only some documents available in
other languages
•YouTube content not aimed at
children or parents
•Website homepage is lackluster
•Overall, website is a bit sparse for
resources
•Content for parents is difficult to find
•Poor quality instructional videos
•Social media use requires a disclaimer
and comment policy
•Few Facebook “likes” and few Twitter
followers
•Underdeveloped social media pages
Opportunities
Threats
•General interest in health,
nutrition, and physical activity
•Technologies can support the
spread of information, access,
and connection to others
•Other 5-2-1-0 initiatives
across the nation have better
web and social media strategies
•Other organizations provide
more and better quality
information and resources for
parents
•Too many other things vying
for parents’ attention
•Funding issues
•Some communities are not
conducive to exercise or have
access to healthy food
•Belief that healthy food and
exercise cost a lot

Let’s Move! is a comprehensive initiative, launched
by First Lady Michelle Obama, that is dedicated to
solving the challenge of childhood obesity within a
generation, so that children born today will grow up
healthier and able to pursue their dreams.





Helpful information for parents
Environments that support healthy choices
Healthier foods in our schools
Access to healthy, affordable food
More physical activity for kids
Ex: Take a walk with your family after dinner:
family calendar, families activities guide, tips on setting goals,
and other helpful ideas
•Dietary Guidelines
for Americans
•MyPlate
•Front-of-Pack
Labeling
description
•Doctors will
prescribe simple
ways to increase
healthy eating
•Eating healthy on
a budget
•97,460 Likes
•Over 100 photos
•Links to YouTube
videos and blog
posts
•Links, events,
colorful photos
featuring the
Obama family,
celebrities, and
happy children
•10-50 Comments
•Spokesperson
YouTube

~100 videos, 675,334 views overall, 6,255
subscribers

Michelle Obama in most of the videos

Geared toward parents mostly

Videos range from PSAs to White House events, to
live cooking demonstrations with Bobby Flay, to the
First Lady dancing with students in Iowa
Twitter

42,070 followers and 958 tweets

Tweets include upcoming events, such as those on
Meetup, news and updates, contests, and healthy
tips

More useful info than their Facebook page

More kid-friendly (healthy recipe contest, Disney
Channel retweets)
Other

Meetup: 875 communities. Aims to spark face-toface meetings and activities locally and nationally.

Flickr: fun and inspirational photos from events
and other appearances
Strengths
•Backed by the power and
legitimacy of the White House
•Many community and national
partners
•Website is available in Spanish
•Content is mostly clear
•Attractive homepage and design
•Sincere and intelligent
spokesperson (Michelle Obama)
•Great photo opportunities with
the First Lady, the President, and
other celebrities.
•Ability to be wide-reaching
•Well maintained and popular
social media
•Highly-visible brand, consistent,
appealing
Weaknesses
•It does not appear that videos or
social media is available in
Spanish
•Some of the website content is not
organized in the best way for
parents’ use.
•Change may be restricted by
government bureaucracy
•Social media use requires a
disclaimer, privacy notice, and
comment policy
Opportunities
Threats
•General interest in healthy living
•Technologies can support the
spread of information, access, and
connection to others
•Funding may be depleted by other
more pressing issues.
•If Obama does not get re-elected,
program will likely stop.
•Some communities are not
conducive to exercise or have
access to healthy food
•Belief that healthy food and
exercise cost a lot
Comparison of Three Programs
We Can!
Let’s Go!
Let’s Move!
Nutrition, physical
activity, screen time
Nutrition, physical
activity, screen time,
sugary drinks
Nutrition, physical
activity
Reach kids through
Reach kids through
parents and caregivers schools, after school
programs, child care
centers, worksites,
and health care
facilities
Reach kids through
parents, schools, local
officials, community
leaders, chefs, and
health care providers
Appealing colors,
photos, dropdown
menus---dense
content, confusing
layout
Very visually
appealing and
interactive, difficult to
find certain info, 5
simple steps
Does not appeal to
kids or parents, lack of
materials for sectors,
overwhelming links,
cluttered
Comparison of Three Programs
We Can!
Let’s Go!
Let’s Move!
Facebook, YouTube
Facebook, YouTube,
Twitter
Facebook, YouTube,
Twitter, Flickr,
Meetup
Redy mascot, cartoon
graphics. and color
palette is elementary
Michelle Obama as a
strong role model
(kids, parents,
passionate leader).
Vibrant colors, happy
children, fun!
Branding and Tone:
Diversity, unity,
community, and
family
Recommendation for We Can!
Website: Reorganize content and adjust navigation,
consolidate materials
 Facebook: Consistent posts, interactive materials
for target audience
 YouTube: Videos giving parents tips on healthy
meals, portion sizes, and including children. Show
families games to play indoors/outdoors. Use
charismatic spokesperson to speak about limiting
screen time. Videos in Spanish
 Twitter: Start one!....Quick tips, links to videos and
other resources, promote events. Link to other
accounts that parents follow

Recommendation for Let’s Go!

Website: Kid-friendly section, change layout,
consistent branding, provide resources and tools for
each sector, easy to find info
Add more to community specific pages, news, events
YouTube: Higher quality videos, stories from families in
pilot, tips for other families, community partners reaching
out to invite others to join the program, instructional
videos of how to become a 5-2-1-0 school, etc. Cooking and
physical activity how-to videos for parents and kids.
YouTube and Twitter: Link to new videos, tips, update
often, interactive
Collaborate with other 5-2-1-0 programs in other states to
increase visibility/unity of message and share resources.


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Recommendation for Let’s Move!

Website: Restructure a little, more practical info
upfront, change “Take Action” name.

Facebook/Twitter: Incorporate more useful info for
parents and kids (rather than just publicity),
personal narratives, human interest stories

Interlink social platforms