Backed by major food brands and supermarkets including Birds Eye and Tesco, a new fund has been launched with the aim of boosting vegetable consumption in the UK.

‘Veg Power’ is a marketing fund that will use the top people in the advertising industry to create “impactful, innovative digital campaigns” aimed at children. Sir John Hegarty (Founder and Creative Director) has been supporting the creation of the fund and believes this is a real chance to use “advertising for good”.

He said: “We have hit crisis point with our children’s diets and 1 in 3 of our children are leaving primary school obese or overweight, leaving them at higher risk of developing diet related diseases such as Type 2 Diabetes.”

Veg Power is being backed by celebrity chefs, medical experts, food producers and teachers and will aim to transform children’s current attitude to vegetables. With strong simple digital content, Sir John said it will inspire children to embrace and love the variety of vegetables on offer.

Pete Johnson, General Marketing Manager at Birds Eye, said: “Vegetables have been a significant part of the Birds Eye shopping basket, and our advertising, for over three generations. This year, we are increasing TV and social media advertising by 42% because we believe veg is highly relevant to the needs of families. We know how difficult it can be to coax kids to eat more veg, but with some imagination in messaging and in menus, plus with affordable, tasty veg, it can be done.  We are delighted to be a supporter of the #VEGPOWER campaign.”

Jason Tarry, Tesco Chief Product Officer, added:  “Creating healthier habits that stay with children as they grow up is hugely important. At Tesco in last two years we’ve given over 50 million pieces of free fruit to children, and we hope our donation to the Veg Power campaign highlights the importance of getting more veg into children’s diet.”