The Outdoor Media Association (OMA) has launched its Healthy Returns campaign, in partnership with Health and Wellbeing Queensland and Nutrition Australia, to tackle obesity and encourage Aussies to eat more vegetables, as the new school year begins.

The Healthy Returns campaign will see new advertising signs rolled out across the country, encouraging Aussies to ‘buy in season for healthy returns’. The signs will feature four vegetables: broccoli, carrot, corn and tomato.

The OMA has gathered a group of leading Australian chefs including Trisha Greentree (10 William Street), Hamish Ingham (Redbird Chinese and Tequila Daisy) and O Tama Carey (Lankan Filing Station) to lend their skills to the campaign, by sharing tasty, veggie-based recipes to feed the whole family.

The Out of Home campaign has been designed by oOh!media’s creative and content hub POLY, and was rolled out by OMA Members across the country on 29 January.

Valued at more than $3 million, the Out of Home Healthy Returns campaign will run for four weeks to 25 February.

The campaign is an especially pertinent reminder as the new school year begins and rates of childhood obesity remain high. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), one in four kids aged 5-14 years are overweight or obese, with poor diet found to be a primary contributing factor.

OMA is committed to reducing rates of obesity through its world-first National Health and Wellbeing Policy, restricting the placement of unhealthy food and drink advertising near schools.

The campaign is in direct response to a recent report which found that:

• 91 per cent of Australians are not consuming the recommended 5+ servings of vegetables per day
• One in four Aussies admit to only eating a single serve of vegetables per day
• Only nine per cent of children (aged two to 17 years) eat enough vegetables to nourish their growing bodies, according to the Fruit and Vegetable Consortium Report 2022

OMA CEO, Charmaine Moldrich said, “The Outdoor advertising industry is committed to tackling rates of obesity through its National Health and Wellbeing Policy.

“This year the advertising space our members have donated will reach 93 per cent of Australians over the four week campaign. This is a very powerful investment in public health campaigning.

“With such mass reach, more than any other advertising channel, we are getting results. Our post-campaign research from 2022 shows our healthy eating campaigns are working as a catalyst to change behaviour.

“This year’s message is all about buying in-season vegetables to help keep costs low at the supermarket checkout. It’s timely, given the increasing cost of living in the last 12 months.”

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