Weight Watchers Australia attempts to use reason to beat obesity

The premise of the campaign appears to be that although 61 per cent of Australians overweight, 50 per cent of those are in denial over their weight problem. Many who are obese don't acknowledge it. Dress sizes and plate sizes have gotten bigger, and no one's noticed. 

The campaign hopes that by investigating the "root causes of Australia's growing obesity problem in a bid to offer real solutions to get the nation healthy again" it will be able to combat spreading waistlines with logic and reason. 

It brings on board chef and health advocate Pete Evans to help formulate easy dishes that will hopefully stop Aussies from turning to the unhealthy convenience of fast food. 

“As a nation, we’ve swapped fresh for fast, quality for convenience and our knowledge of food and cooking skills are in decline," said Evans. "Combine this with more demanding and stressful lifestyles and Australia is simply not giving food and mealtimes the respect they deserve." 

'Plate of our nation', which launched on 10 October, is being run primarily through social media with a site, via YouTube, a Facebook page and a Twitter account. It will also run on print and digital with QR codes placed on print ads to take users to the campaign's mobile site. 

The campaign has digital agency Reactive on board as well as social and PR agency One Green Bean.

On the website, visitors may take a survey to see how they compare with the rest of the nation in terms of food knowledge and cooking skills. The site also includes tips on shopping and cooking as well as advice from experts in nutrition, exercise, psychology, obesity research and fashion. 

"Put simply, we created the 'Plate of our nation' movement to bring the obesity epidemic to the fore and the integrated campaign explains this in a simple and engaging way but most importantly, puts debate and the nation’s opinion at its core," said Weight Watchers Australasia managing director, Joseph Saad.

Agency credits:

Client: Weight Watchers
Creative: BMF
Planning: Naked
Digital: Reactive
PR and Social Media: One Green Bean
Media: OMD