DemocratAndChronicle.com
Justina Wang
October 15, 2008
As part of a $50 million campaign to drive down the rate of childhood obesity in Monroe County, a series of ads on TV stations will attempt to rouse parents with a mix of bleak warnings and upbeat messages about their kids' health.
In one commercial, the camera pans through empty gyms and swimming pools while a narrator gravely wonders about the life expectancy of the younger generation: "What happens next is up to you."
In another, children dance and play to an energetic jingle about eating more fruits and vegetables.
For each of the next two to three years, about $1 million of those funds will go toward the public awareness ads, which will also run on the radio, in print and online. Another $750,000 over the next three years will help pediatricians talk to parents about obesity, foundation representatives announced Tuesday.