healthier eating. Within the framework of the EATWELL project (Interventions to promote healthy eating campaigns: evaluation and recommendations; see
http://www.eatwellproject.eu/en/), MAPP at the University of Aarhus has conducted a case study of best prac- tice examples of public healthy eating campaigns.
A best practice example (or, in other words, a case study methodology used for detecting success factors), is often criticised for failing to produce gener- alisable empirical results. The strength, however, is that with this method,
EATWELL in Europe Successful healthy eating campaigns
by Mathias Strand Scientific Researcher, MA, MAPP
Mathias is a Master of European and Eastern European history and culture from Aarhus University, Denmark and Justus Liebig University, Giessen in Germany. He worked at MAPP, Aarhus School of Business, from 2009 to summer 2010 and will continue his studies in food history at the University of Southern Denmark.
The EU funded EATWELL project has been set up to promote healthy eating campaigns in Europe. MAPP at the University of Aarhus has con- ducted a case study of best practice examples of public healthy eating campaigns. Mathias Strand, Scientific Researcher involved in the University case study, reports on some of the most successful campaigns looked at in the study. Europeans lead increasingly un- healthy lives, especially with regard to their diets and eating habits. The result is increased obesity, obesity-related diseases and growing public spending in the health sector, which is why urgent action is needed (1). Neither the fact that Europeans live unhealthily or that solutions are urgent is something new. The unhealthy lifestyle has been a major problem among northern Europeans since the 1970s, whereas southern Europe and the for- mer Eastern Bloc only saw this problem
8
some years later (2). Simultaneously, the public health authorities in the European countries began to make an effort to change people's eating habits. Overall, the effort has been intensified over the past 20 years. For the most part these efforts have consisted in informa- tion campaigns, but various types of interventions (VAT differentiation, school and company fruit schemes, ban on transfatty acids, etc.) have also been among the actions taken by policy makers (3).
Not all campaigns have been equal-
ly effective and, even though some of them have received considerable media attention, it is debatable to what extent they have actually changed people's eating habits. However, there are campaigns that stand out as re- markably successful and some of them are characterised by using extraordi- nary means. The EU is therefore fund- ing a research project to analyse the effectiveness of public interventions for
knowledge and experience is gathered which is closely linked to the practical context in question. Whether the suc- cess factors in focus are applicable in future campaigns or interventions, de- pends on a number of external factors, but an understanding of previous best practice examples helps in assessing what might be important for success. Out of 200 European campaigns that were part of a quantitative survey in an earlier phase of the EATWELL proj- ect, 11 particularly successful examples were selected for a more detailed qualitative case study. The campaign managers were interviewed and, in ad- dition, campaign material and evalu- ations were collected. Each case was described in a two-page summary and presented to a group of researchers who discussed the underlying success factors and developed a model of relevant groups of success factors and their interaction (see graph 1) by means of a card-sorting method.
The aim of this article is to show what characterises successful public cam- paigns for healthier eating and which kinds of tools are used, highlighted by examples. The characteristics and tools of the successful examples might prove useful when creating future public cam- paigns for healthier eating in Europe. The 11 campaigns were implement- ed in seven countries (Britain, France, Italy, Poland, Belgium, Germany and Denmark) and cover different types of campaigns and actions. Groups of success factors and their interaction, described as a model: Geoff/Heather - Graph can be seen in print layout view
The initial phase
When initialising a campaign or inter- vention, it can be crucially important to be aware of the general macro-level environment in which the campaign is to be conducted. This implies having a sense of important issues, trends and
NHDmag.com Aug/Sept '10 - issue 57
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