Would you like carrots with that?

I love a good cheeseburger and fries. There is nothing that I enjoy more than a large fountain Dr. Pepper with crushed ice and 400 calories on a hot summer day. But, I only eat/drink these things a few times a year. Why? Because if I ate those types of things regularly I'd be increasing my chances of heart disease and diabetes. And, I'd probably be part of the 28.7% of Texans who are considered obese.

Obesity is now considered an epidemic, according to the World Health Organization. AN EPIDEMIC. Like AIDS or the Black Death of the Middle Ages. And yet, addressing obesity is very different than addressing HIV/AIDS, famine, or cancer. Obesity is, largely, a product of over-abundance and some say, the American lifestyle and culture. When we talk about fighting obesity we are really talking about changing the American way of life. Dr. David Ludwig, Director of the Optimal Weight for Life program at Children’s Hospital Boston says "If we just expect that inner-city child to exercise self-control and walk a little bit more, then I think we’re in for a big disappointment" in a NY Times blog.

With all this in mind, I've been trying to aggregate knowledge from The Tipping Point, The VW Fun Theory, and all my other experiences to come up with a silver bullet to get people to stop eating things that are slowly killing them, costing the healthcare system (read: you and me) tons of money, and making the American life expectancy decrease.In fact, “We’re in danger of raising the first generation of children who could live sicker and die younger than the generation before them” says Dr. James Marks in a July 2010 Newsweek article.

However it seems a "Bunch of Carrot Farmers" have figured it out already. They hired Crispin, Porter, and Bogusky to design a campaign around baby carrots. Crispin, Porter, and Bogusky decided to market pre-packed baby carrots like junk food, it's called the "Eat em' like junk food" campaign. The campaign has a few different ads: Extreme, Indulge, Future, and Munchies. All are pretty funny. I love the tag line at the end of the video below: "Now in extreme junk food packaging!"

This bunch of carrot farmers put baby carrot vending machines in a high school in Ohio and a high school in New York. The school couldn't keep the machines stocked. Kids were choosing baby carrots over a bag of Dorito's en mass. Advertising got kids to make healthier choices even when real junk food was available. They did it by making baby carrots cool.

Countless government agencies, nonprofit organizations, chefs on a crusade, and nutritional experts have been trying for YEARS to get kids (and adults) to make the right food choices. They've used all sorts of programs and marketing tactics and scare tactics and we, as a nation, are fatter, eat less vegetables, and are less active than ever.

It took a group of carrot farmers, trying to make a profit, to make vegetables cool. Which leads me to believe that, perhaps, for profit companies who make healthy lifestyle products are the ones with enough advertising dollars, enough to gain, and enough to lose to really make social impact. Maybe, we've been going about it all wrong.