Veg Power’s Eat Them to Defeat Them Continues to Have a Positive Impact

Veg Power’s 2024 Eat Them to Defeat Them campaign, created in partnership with ITV, continues to have a much-needed, positive impact on children’s veg-eating habits. Now in its sixth year, the 2024 campaign reached 620,000 children from 2,375 primary and special schools.

Over the last six years, through a combination of over £20m ($25 million) of advertising and the schools’ program, 1.7 million children from over 5,000 primary and special schools have benefited from the campaign, with some participating as many as six times. Of note, the campaign supported an increase in veg consumption in children participating in the schools’ program, but in the parents’ consumption, too.

Campaigns that support dietary behavior change in the U.K. are vital, with 80% of children not eating enough vegetables, and worryingly, a third of kids eating less than a portion per day, according to the National Diet and Nutrition Survey. This major public health issue has a negative impact on many aspects of children’s health, but also has huge ramifications later in life, including increased healthcare costs and reduced productivity.

Eat Them to Defeat Them is a multi-award-winning campaign that inspires kids to eat vegetables by combining the power of advertising with a highly effective schools’ program. The campaign moves away from traditional five-a-day messaging to a fun and engaging concept designed for children, uniquely bringing together a huge alliance, including celebrities, supermarkets, chefs, schools, communities and families.

We’re thrilled with the results that show we are slowly making a difference to improving vegetable acceptance and our nation’s diet.

The evaluation of the 2024 Eat Them to Defeat Them schools’ program found 77% of parents reported their child had eaten more vegetables, and interestingly, 62% of parents also stated their child’s participation had led to an increase in their own veg-eating habits.

The real power of the campaign comes from repeated participation in schools. In parents whose children have taken part more than once, 55% reported a lasting and long-term improvement in the volume and variety of vegetables eaten. Impressively, the campaign’s impact extends to the wider family, with 70% of those parents stating they too were eating more veg.

The evaluation also found 87% of children and 90% of parents who took part this year have asked to do it again. To build on all these successes and continue to improve veg-eating habits, Eat Them to Defeat Them will return in 2025.

Our evaluation data has shown the Eat Them to Defeat Them campaign is not only much loved and well known by this generation of children, but critically, it is also becoming steadily more effective each year. This is regardless of household income and demonstrates it works across all income brackets. We’re thrilled with the results that show we are slowly making a difference to improving vegetable acceptance and our nation’s diet. The crucial next step will be to bring about more positive change with our 2025 campaign.

Just imagine what we could achieve if all children in primary school benefited from the schools’ program, rather than just 10-20%.

The 2024 Eat Them to Defeat Them campaign was an alliance between ITV, Channel 4 and Sky Media and was sponsored by major supermarket and food brands Aldi, Birds Eye, Co-op, Sainsbury’s and Tesco. Media agency, Essence, secured pro-bono contributions from advertising and media partners, including Mumsnet, Spotify, First News, Delicious and others that extended the reach of the campaign and encouraged children to feel more enthusiastic about eating vegetables. This year’s campaign featured a new creative theme, The Big Chomp, with children encouraged to defeat the veg one bite at a time, with supporting visuals and fun activities. 

Dan Parker is chief executive of Veg Power.