WV Healthy Children Project launches Choose to Change campaign focused on healthy habits for young children

Morgantown, WV <January 16, 2018>: For the beginning of the 2018 year, the West Virginia Healthy Children Project is launching an educational advertising campaign targeted to parents of children ages 2 to 5 to help promote healthy messages and habits in homes.

This campaign will be conveyed through ads featuring Choosy, a health hero mascot created by a small West Virginia company called Choosy Kids. Choosy represents the acronym Choose Healthy Options Often and Start Young. The mascot promotes healthy habits in a family, agency, classroom, clinic or community. The uniqueness of Choosy is found in his lively music that contains health messages that children enjoy. Choosy also has helpful reminders and resource materials for busy parents and teachers.

The overall campaign goal is that through Choosy, children become messengers about healthy habits in their own households and by making healthy decisions about physical activity and nutrition, they overcome massive media marketing and sometimes family preferences.

The WV Healthy Children Project has been developed as part of a collaboration between WVU Extension Service, WV Prevention Research Center, Choosy Kids, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The grant funding for this project was allocated for Barbour, Gilmer and Pleasants Counties in West Virginia.

To learn more about Choosy or the Choose to Change campaign go to facebook.com/choosetochangewv or call the local WVU Extension office in your area.