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Campaign Background, Purpose, and Focus 155

a project for preventing obesity and promoting health as part of its
cause-related marketing activities.
• The Local Health Unit of Modena had a staff with expertise in
communication and health promotion (Communication and Social
Marketing Department) and in nutrition (Office of Food Hygiene and
Nutrition). Moreover, health promotion was part of the mission of the
Local Health Unit.
• Internal weaknesses:
• Funding sources for development of the project were limited, and the
budget was low.
• The Local Health Unit of Modena had no experience in working with
the vending machine sector.

Macro-Environment

• External opportunities:
• Because of the concerns of citizens toward this topic, the development
of a project that related to health and vending machines could be
perceived as interesting and remarkable.
• New technological and organizational solutions had been developed,
which made it possible to insert healthy food in vending machines:
for example, fresh fruit or fruit salads that had to be kept cold or
cooked.
• External threats:
• Most citizens were skeptical about vending machines and thought they
only sold products with low nutritional profiles.
• The vending machine sector was a private sector, so its economic
interests may influence the products that it sold.
At international levels, there had been some cases of vending machines be-
ing banned because of the types of products sold (e.g., candies and soft drinks).
Choose Health was among the first projects developed in Italy aimed at promot-
ing health through vending machines; other projects are now under way, also
due to the development of the national Gaining Health program. The project,
and its most recent developments, have gathered information on past and simi-
lar efforts documented by scientific literature and by the Web (Food Standards
Agency, 2004; Higgs & Styles, 2006; Indiana State Department of Health, n.d.;
San Diego & Imperial Nutritional Network, n.d.; Welsh Assembly Government,
2005). As a guide for the definition of the social marketing approach, Kotler,
Roberto, and Lee’s book, Social Marketing—Improving the Quality of Life (2002),
was consulted.