The Secret to Getting Kids to Eat Their Veggies

Snap into a baby carrot, brother! As Change.org recently wrote, a group of carrot farmers have taken to heart the old saying, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em," and launched a $25 million ad campaign to promote baby carrots to teenagers and kids. Over the past few weeks, we've started to see just how this marketing campaign will play out.

The campaign doesn't try to get kids to eat carrots because the veggies are full of vitamins and good for the eyes (the tried-and-true method of trying to push healthy foods on consumers). The goal of this campaign is to re-brand baby carrots as an extreme, edgy "junk food" choice that rivals snack foods like Cheetos and cookies.

In one of the television spots, electric guitars wail as an attractive woman stands behind a machine gun, firing rounds of baby carrots at a man in a motorized shopping cart as he is launched off the edge of a cliff. Naturally, the cart bursts into a fiery explosion after it takes hits from the carrot bullets. At the end, text displays the slogan "Eat 'Em Like Junk Food." A bit nonsensical when you really think about it, but at least the ad creates a powerful image.

In another ad, a beautiful woman smoothly and provocatively maneuvers a baby carrot around her mouth as a Barry White-esque voice croons in the background. The ad reaches its crescendo as she bites into the carrot and moans, "Oh baby...carrots."

The ads are clearly meant to be satirical and aim to reach kids' and teens' stomachs through their funny bones. But are they effective?

Some teenagers at a high school in Cincinnati think so. The school is one of several that has carrot vending machines — another strategy in the carrot farmers' marketing campaign to get the veggies into teenagers' hands. As NPR reported, "Kids used to think of carrots as something that their mom put on their plates at dinner. But by putting baby carrots in vending machines, it puts them on even footing with other packaged snacks."

Studies have found that packaging can greatly influence a child's decision to choose one snack over another, or even make them think identical snacks taste better. However, researchers for one particular study found that strategy did not hold true when it came to healthy snacks. I wrote mockingly several months ago that that could explain why we don't see more Spongebob Squarepants carrot bags in the grocery store. Maybe that's not too far off.

Kids and teens aren't stupid — they know a Dorito doesn't taste like a carrot. But the incredible power of marketing is also evident. Is the "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" strategy the last best hope we have to get kids to eat healthier food? The idealist in me says no, but the pragmatist says yes. The results of this campaign will be telling.

While the jury's still out on whether the "cool" carrot campaign can get kids to eat more veggies, we do know that junk food marketing pushes youngsters to seek out unhealthy snacks. Give baby carrots and actual babies a fighting change by asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to restrict junk food marketing aimed at children.

Photo credit: Screen grab from babycarrots.com