How to create BIG public health message?

1. How to createBIGpublic health message? Professor Stipe Oreskovic Andrija Stampar School of Public Health Prepared for ASPHER Conference Caltanisseta, 12 September 2004

2. It is about • understanding the theory of public health communication

3. … What people know about health diet, breakfast, food and biotechnology if.. Less than 30% understands the term DNA

4. How to promote public health issue: Two Approaches Social Marketing— media promoting good- health practices (healthy diet) Media Advocacy— media as a tool to affect change in health status (reducing obesity)

5. Food Issues Gained Public Attention • GMO and food safety • insufficient regulatory capacity of the EU and nation states • lack of consumer choice • information • potential effect on the environment • international trade issues (WTO...)

6. The case of “Big Breakfast” Criteria for sucessfull media advocacy action • based on data millions of hungry people – people dying of obesity • specific goal overall outcome: increase public awareness, increase number of people eating “healthy” breakfast • establish coalitionsNGO’s, SPH, Government, WHO, FAO....

7. How to trigger public” attention • Milestone (organize the biggest breakfast ever) • Irony (rich are fat poor are thin – both want to change position) • Seasonal connection (related to religious habits of eating corn based food in october)

8. How to trigger public” attention • Celebrities (actors, sport heroes..) • Controversy (national cuisine against globalization of food) • Injustice (hungry and poor while food being destroyed)

9. What will attract journalists? • “growing” • visual • action-oriented • dinamic events

10. Surf on the waves of public interest! Don’t try to create them!

12. And it is about the knowedge how to motivate people for the benefit of public health

13. http://www.srce.hr/~ihitrec/agroweb/foodnutrition.html

14. "The Largest Breakfast - Croatian Breakfast", • On the 19th of Octber 2003, Croatia celebrated World Food Day for the first time by holding the World’s Largest Breakfast.

15. Raise awareness • In order to raise awareness and mobilize as many people as possible, the Andrija Štampar School of Public Health organized this large-scale social event • WHO, FAO, The Government of the Republic of Croatia, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and the Croatian Tourist Board among others.

16. "The Largest Breakfast - Croatian Breakfast", • The Andrija Štampar School of Public Health is known for its efforts in helping to improve the health of the people in Croatia, as well as those in other countries around the world. • We used this event, dubbed "The Largest Breakfast – Croatian Breakfast", as a symbolic reminder of the need to share food with those who do not have enough, and to raise awareness that 800 million people in the world are hungry.

17. "The Largest Breakfast - Croatian Breakfast" • Through these efforts, contributed to the improvement of knowledge and understanding the health and well-being of the poor around the world.

18. Importance of having a balanced diet • This project also aimed to promote the importance of having a balanced diet • Balanced breakfast is one step towards the prevention malnutrition

19. How the media reacted? • Scientific Journals Radio • TV • International Agencies • Newspapers

21. THE LANCET • Vol 363 • February 14, 2004 • www.thelancet.com All in all, the breakfasters, who came together in city squares, schools, hospitals, and nursing homes at 235 locations in 12 different cities, consumed nearly 10 000 litres of yoghurt, 4000 kilogrammes of porridge, and 10 000 apples. Stjepan Ores¢kovic, director of the Andrija S¢tampar School of Public Health in Zagreb, says the goal was to promote breakfast as the most important meal of the day. “We also wanted to show the dietary value of a traditional Croatian meal, which is nutritionally balanced and affordable.” knew In 2001, the life expectancy was

22. The WebCNN.com • Croats attempt mass breakfast record • Sunday, October 19, 2003 Posted: 2:27 PM EDT (1827 GMT) • ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) --Thousands of Croats took part Sunday in a mass, nationwide breakfast in hopes of breaking a Guinness world record held by Taiwan. • Croatia, an agricultural and tourist country of 4.5 million people, also aimed to promote healthy and local foods and to stress the importance of breakfast for a healthy lifestyle, said Stipe Oreskovic, the head of the state-run institution for promotion of health which organized the event. • Private sponsors and local governments paid for the event, estimated to cost up to 4 million kuna ($615,000.)

23. Croatia claims new big breakfast record... The "BiggestBreakfast-CroatianBreakfast" lasted an hour on Sunday morning andparticipants had to consume corn mush, a yoghurt and an apple. ...in.news.yahoo.com/031020/137/28n9k.html - 24k - Slične Stranice - • FijetEspaña... del Ministro de Salud de Croacia en torno al imaginativo proyecto de promoción turística" The biggestbreakfast-Croatianbreakfast", que pretende alcanzar ...fijetespana.com/congresocroacia.html - 36k -

24. The event's organisers told Croatian television that a total of 42,120 people took part at more than 200 locations across the country, which would almost have doubled the existing world record. • Breakfast was served at exactly nine o'clock in the morning and participants had to eat the whole meal in order to be counted in the total. • The existing record was set in Taiwan on 13 October 2001, when 23,291 people tucked into 1,920 kilograms of bread and 5,670 litres of milk. • Sunday's Croatian attempt was the idea of the Andrija Stampar Public Health School in Zagreb, to mark World Food Day.

25. Thousands of Croats in Mass Breakfast • [Associated Press]Thousands of Croats took part Sunday in a mass, nationwide breakfast in hopes of breaking a Guinness world record held by Taiwan.

26. www.deutschewelle.de/english/0%2C3367%2C4789_W_1003885%2C00.htmlwww.deutschewelle.de/english/0%2C3367%2C4789_W_1003885%2C00.html • Croatia claims new big breakfast record • In honor of World Food Day, some 38,000 Croatians ate corn mush, yoghurt and an apple on Sunday. The event was also an attempt to enter the record books for the most number people sitting down to breakfast at any one time. Taiwan set the current breakfast record in the Guinness Book of World Records two years ago when over 23,000 people consumed almost 6,000 liters of milk and 2,000 kilograms of bread.(Organisers said they would now send all necessary documentation and witness reports to the Guinness Book of Records headquarters in London for confirmation of the results.)

27. Public Response

29. The Results • Great participation (54.155 person in at city squares, schools, hospitals, and nursing homes at 235 locations in 12 different cities • Great public attention arround the globe (hundreds of reports on internet, printed and electronic media) • Change in behavioral attitudes

30. The results • 89 % of population knows about the breakfast • 79 % considers it positive action • 37 % understands it as promotion of breakfast as healthy behavior

31. The results • 16 % of population understands the action as a promotion of healthy food • 4 % of population thought that it was organized to feed hungy • Only! 2% tought that the intention was to set the new world record