A team of superhero characters called Super Sprowtz is being used as a marketing strategy in elementary school lunchrooms to nearly triple the number of students eating from the salad bar.

“We can harness the power of marketing to help us,” Drew Hanks said.

Hanks’ team tested three methods in 10 public elementary schools in New York. In some schools, they put a banner displaying the Super Sprowtz on the salad bar. In others, they played Super Sprowtz videos in the lunch room. Some schools used both tactics.

Incredibly, 24 percent of the kids took vegetables from the salad bars with the banners. This was almost double what researchers saw before the change. In schools with the banner and the video, the number of students eating veggies went from 10 percent to almost 35 percent.

Although marketing to kids can be tricky, Hanks said this study shows the potential of marketing, if done in the best interest of children.

Even with a national push for better school lunch options, Hanks noted, many schools don’t have salad bars. However, “if we can encourage kids to take vegetables of their own accord, they’re much more likely to eat them.”

Fairly cheap add-ons — such as salad bars — plus marketing tools, can motivate kids to eat more veggies for better health and nutrition.

— Misti Crane

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