Green marketing, fitness, kids, allergies, Vitamin D, walking to school, fun outdoors and everything but the kitchen sink

Today on the news in Melbourne, and in recent months there have been studies revealing a link between low vitamin D levels in children and allergies developed at a very young age.  Gone are the days when you'd let your baby crawl amongst the bugs and beetles and imbibe a snail or two (what I'd  call being a 'locavore' taken to its enth degree).  

Human genes and our DNA don't change  so swiftly and the studies reveal that critically higher rates of allergies must be caused by environmental factors.  My unprofessional opinion has tended to be that we must be keeping our homes too clean (all those anti-bacterial agents galore, but not so much in my case!)  but it now seems that allergies have more to do with  how much time we spend outdoors, or the amount of vitamin D in our foods.
 
If so, this is a boon for green marketers and social marketers. They are after all trying to promote their products and lifestyles which often correlate with habits which are better for the planet as well ......... healthy outdoor living in the garden, bide riding, walking to school). From a green marketing point of view, these findings have even broader implications for the ways we promote our green and healthy lifestyle campaigns conjointly.  Yet another campaign route to get the kids off the computer and away from the TV, and out using the play and gardening equipment or bike you bought for them, watering the vegies, walking to school for those 15 minutes of vitamin D they need.

But our campaigns have to be deployed cleverly. The usual message - thou shalt do x or else isn't working, in the modern world.  Depending on the ways social marketers promote these campaigns,  it remains to be seen whether parents will prefer to flick the switch - or to simply keep adapting to changing dietary needs!

Here is a link to an interesting article on the ways we shout our slogans and campaigns from the treetops! The main premises in this article are grounded both in scientific research and I think common sense!