Richards/Lerma helps Mexican Consulate Fight Childhood Obesity

Dallas-based ad agency Richards/Lerma has taken a proactive approach to help in the fight against childhood obesity.

A July 2013 United Nations report indicated that Mexico had surpassed the United States as the most obese country in the world. This prompted Richards/Lerma to partner with the Consulate of Mexico in Dallas to help raise awareness about the critical issue.

“We developed a campaign that very clearly and quickly, and in a sort of scary way, communicates the effects of childhood obesity. We felt that communicating this message directly to parents and making them think for one moment about the food they feed their kids could help in the fight,” said Aldo Quevedo, head creative and principal at Richards/Lerma.

The agency developed a series of images that show children with prematurely aged faces. The inspiration was a line in a Mexican news article titled “Obesidad y sus cifras en México” that stated “Today’s obese children will be senior citizens by the time they’re 30.”

The print ads were presented to the Consulate of Mexico in Dallas due to its large volume of daily visitors and captive audience. The campaign was very quickly embraced, and the images were first displayed during the Consulate’s Health Fair on October 12. The purpose of the campaign is to motivate parents to ask for nutritional information provided by the Mexican Consulate’s health services division.

Quevedo said that “The consulate, under the leadership of Dr. José Octavio Tripp Villanueva, was extremely supportive of the idea, and Richards/Lerma is always eager to help effect positive change in the community. We know the Mexican government is working to fight obesity in Mexico, so we wanted to amplify the communication effort for those of us in the U.S. It occurred to us that we should help by doing what we do best.”

The campaign will remain on display at the consulate, and will be used in other print, collateral, digital and social media outlets.

Credits:
Aldo Quevedo – Creative Head and Principal
Miguel Moreno – Brand Creative
Jaime Holcombe – Brand Creative
Jorge Rosales – Brand Creative
Victor Cornejo – Brand Manager
Ursula Rojas – Consulate of Mexico Dallas