Change4Life

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Change4Life is a new health initiative which, according to the Department of Health (DoH)website, aims to "improve children’s diets and levels of activity so reducing the threat to their future health and happiness. Our goal is to help every family in England eat well, move more and live longer".[1]

Background

The idea of the Change4Life initiative came out of the 2004 Government paper "Choosing Health", which discussed various health concerns such as smoking, drinking and obesity. The Government proposed a strategy to "raise awareness of the health risks of obesity, and the steps people can take through diet and physical activity to prevent obesity."

In the longer term the Government wished to see a "significant part of the strategy delivered through campaigns that are jointly funded by government and industry."[2]

The Change4Life section of the Department of Health's website contains more detail on the initiative. However, the vast majority of this detail appears to involve the use of the Change4Life logo and marketing and branding issues. There does not appear to be any substance as to what the initiative actually is or how it differs from previous and current Department of Health anti-obesity measures. [3]

The secretary of state for health Alan Johnson made a written statement to the House of Commons on November 11 2008 which outlined the details on the Change4Life initiative. Johnson described the initiative as "a lifestyle revolution which will help families eat well, move more and live longer. Under the banner Change4Life, the Government are aiming to galvanise support from everyone in the country from grass-roots organisations to leading supermarkets and charities.".[4]

Funding

The bulk of the funding for the Change4Life initiative comes from a coalition of food retailers and manufacturers and media companies. A total of 33 companies, liaising with the Government through the Advertising Association's Business4Life coalition, have pledged to deliver a "media equivalent value" of £200 million of in-kind contribution.[5] The Advertising Association is a federation of trade bodies and organisations representing the advertising and promotional marketing industries. The Government has pledged £30 million towards the initiative although this is part of the £372 million pledged by the Department earlier this year to tackle obesity.[6]

Advertising

On May 23 2008, it was announced that M&C Saatchi had won the advertising contract, worth £75 million, for Change4Life.[7]

The director of marketing within the Department of Health was Andrew Brent who had previously worked for Boots and Burger King. Brent left the DoH in September, after only five months, to join BSkyB as a group brand marketing director.BSkyB is one of the member organisations of Business4Life. During his time at the DoH Brent was in charge of hiring M&C Saatchi, direct marketing specialist EHS Brann and media agency Manning Gottlieb OMD. [8]

PR

The PR contract for Change4Life went to Freud Communications in August 2008. The web of connections and influence that surrounds Matthew Freud and the world of celebrity, politics and corporate CEOs, brings into question the competition over the pitch for the contract. It has been reported that two other agencies pitching for the contract were not considered due to their fast food clients; a hypocritical stance from the Department of Health.[9] On the books of Freud Communications are junk food manufacturers PepsiCo, Pizza Hut, KFC, Walkers and alcohol company Diageo.[10]


Philip Gould, former key pollster and architect of New Labour is deputy chairman at Freud Communications. Gould also sit on PepsiCo's new nutritional advisory board with former Health Secretary Alan Milburn. The drinks manufacturer being a client of Freud Communications and member of coalition Business4Life.[11]


Discord

There has been some discord within the DoH at the use of the private sector in the Change4Life initiative. When the Advertising Association (AA) initially announded its £200 million pledge of marketing support in July, a DoH spokesperson stated that the announcment had taken the department by surprise and that the AA had "jumped the gun". [12] Baroness Peta Buscombe, the then chief executive of the AA, replied by stating that: "I don't know why they are saying that. We have been planning the announcement with them for months." [13] Brent was quoted as playing down these differences and stated, "In any organisation you get differences of opinion. If you are working in a big company, these are expressed internally and don't get announced externally. In government, things get picked up and reported by the media." [14]

Criticism

Criticism of the involvement of the business sector has also arisen. Sustain, the sustainable food and agriculture pressure group, raised concerns over the entry criteria for the companies involved in Business4Life. They wished to see a company's record on marketing to children and adoption of the 'traffic lights' nutritional labelling system as basic requirements for entry into the coalition. (The traffic lights system uses red, green or amber symbols to show whether a food meets nutritional criteria. It is overwhelmingly preferred by the public for its simplicity but avoided by the most large food companies and retailers, which prefer to give percentage figures of guideline daily amounts (GDA) – a system that requires a great deal of specialist nutritional knowledge to understand.) Sustain spokesperson Jeanette Longfield commented:

If you don't have any criteria for entry you completely debase the currency. Rich big companies have bullied the Government, and the Government is blinded by the cash, or at least the promise of cash or cash equivalent.[15]

Richard Watts, coordinator for the Children's Food Campaign, raised further concerns regarding Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Watts stated that there was a "significant danger" of businesses merely bolting on the Change4Life logo without being required to give any additional social commitments despite being included in a high-profile Government-backed campaign. [16]

In reply to these criticisms the DoH has stated that there were entry requirements and that monitoring of companies would be conducted. Companies would be required to publicly support the aims of the campaign; carry messaging around diet and activity; contribute to behavioral change; undertake incremental activity; and use the Change4Life branding in certain specified ways.[17]


Resources

Department of Health, B4L Commitment to C4L, FOI received 5 February 2009


Notes

  1. ↑ Department of Health Change4Life, Accessed December 4 2008
  2. ↑ Department of Health Choosing Health November 2004, Accessed December 30 2008
  3. ↑ Department of Health Change4Life,Accessed December 4 2008
  4. ↑ House of Commons Hansard Written Ministerial Statements November 11 2008, Accessed December 18 2008
  5. ↑ Whitehall pages Change4Life, Accessed December 2008
  6. ↑ Department of Health Healthy Weight,Healthy lives A Cross Government strategy for England,Accessed December 4 2008
  7. ↑ M & C Saatchi M&C Saatchi 75m DoH anti-obesity account,Accessed December 17 2008
  8. ↑ Marketing Week Pitfalls of public sector marketing, September 19 2008, Accessed December 17 2008
  9. ↑ PR Week Freud lands anti-obesity brief, 1 August 2008, accessed 5 March 2009
  10. ↑ Freud Communications website Our Clients, accessed 5 March 2009
  11. ↑ John Harris Inside the court of London's golden couple, The Guardian, 13 November 2008, accessed 5 March 2009
  12. ↑ Marketing Week Public Concerns over Private interests August 1 2008, Accessed December 17 2008
  13. ↑ Marketing Week Pitfalls of public sector marketing, September 19 2008, Accessed December 17 2008
  14. ↑ Marketing Week Pitfalls of public sector marketing, September 19 2008, Accessed December 17 2008
  15. ↑ Just food Food industry at heart of new anti-obesity drive November 20 2008, Accessed December 30 2008
  16. ↑ Just food Food industry at heart of new anti-obesity drive November 20 2008, Accessed December 30 2008
  17. ↑ Just food Food industry at heart of new anti-obesity drive November 20 2008, Accessed December 30 2008
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