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156 CHAPTER 7 ■ Choose Health in Food Vending Machines

TA RG E T A U DI E NCES

According to the International Obesity Taskforce (2007), at the end of the
1990s and in 2000 the prevalence of obesity and excess weight in adolescents
(aged 14 to 17) in Italy was among the highest in Europe. This suggested that
adolescents should be considered a privileged target for healthy lifestyle pro-
motion activities. Moreover, several experiences were described in the interna-
tional context regarding the development of healthy vending machines in
schools (Food Standards Agency, 2004; Higgs & Styles, 2006; Welsh Assembly
Government, 2005).
Furthermore, existing data referred to the province of Modena (Centro
Nazionale di Epidemiologia, Sorveglianza e Promozione della salute 2006)
demonstrated that physical inactivity and prevailing obesity/excess weight in-
creased with age: sedentary individuals reached 14.8% between the ages of 18
and 34 and 17.6% between ages 35 and 49; the data for obesity/excess weight
were 23.8% in the 18-to-24 age group, 22.5% in the 25-to-34 age group, and
34.3% in the 35-to-49 age group. Recent data also indicated that about 40% of
25- to 44-year-olds in Italy were more likely to eat away from home (ISTAT,
2007) and buy food from vending machines.
Given these data, the population groups that would enjoy the greatest ad-
vantages from a project that promoted health through vending machines were
young and middle-aged adults, including students.
Choose Health was conceived as an experiment with the intention of defin-
ing an intervention strategy that promoted health through vending machines
and that could be repeated in various settings by adapting the communication
activities and the choice of products for different targets.
In conjunction with these remarks and considering the project’s experimen-
tal approach, the main targets were:

• students aged 14 to 19.
• people who were studying or teaching in universities.
• those who were working in some firms in the province of Modena.

CAM PAI G N O B J E C TIVE S AN D G O AL S

The project’s objectives were as follows:
• Behavior objectives:
• To choose healthy products (foods and beverages) available at vending
machines during breaks at school, university, and work.